Indian-born ultra Dhiren Barot sentenced to life

The brain behind the plot to blow up financial institutions has been sentenced to life imprisonment.

BY A CORRESPONDENT

10 November 2006
NEW DLEHI, INDIA

The India-born Dhiren Barot, who has been widely described as a determined and dedicated terrorist, had been heading a British underground cell plotting to destroy America’s mega financial institutions. 

Among the many cases against him, Barot also had been accused of plotting to trigger explosions at London parking garages. 

Saying that Dhiren Barot’s intention was not simply to cause damage, panic or fear, the judge who pronounced the verdict, stated that the terrorist’s intention was to murder and strike at the very heart of democracy and the security of the state. 

The 34-year-old ultra is an n Indian-born immigrant who grew up in Britain and converted from Hinduism to Islam. With the verdict pronounced in London, Barot will now be taken to the US for trial on an indictment accusing him of plotting to blow up the New York Stock Exchange, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund headquarters, the Citigroup building in New York and the Prudential building in Newark. 

Meanwhile, as many as seven of Dhiren Barot's co-conspirators are currently facing trial in Britain in connection with a conspiracy to spur carnage, bloodshed and butchery across the United States and Great Britain. 

While the trial was on Dhiren Barot's attorney told the court that there was no evidence that Barot and the other defendants had gone any further than the exploration stage or that Barot had acquired any materials for carrying out bombings. However, prosecutors presented evidence that he had prepared in exhaustive detail the logistics for a wide range of attacks likely to result in massive deaths. Barot is suspected to be an al Qaeda man.