New Delhi, July 25: Indian Mujahideen operative Shahzad Ahmed has been convicted of murdering Delhi Police inspector NC Sharma during the 2008 Batla House encounter. He has been found guilty of obstructing a public servant in the line of duty.

He has also been found guilty of criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence and has been charged under the Arms Act. The quantum of punishment will be announced on Monday.

This puts an end to the controversy surrounding the genuineness of the encounter and also to the questions raised on whether Sharma was killed by one of the IM operatives or by other Delhi Police officials. However, the Jamia Teachers Association has rejected the judgement saying it will move the High Court. "We do not accept this judgement, we will continue fight the case," said Jamia Teachers Association member Sangam Mitra.

Former IPS officer Kiran Bedi welcomed the Delhi court verdict saying, "Finally justice prevailed. I'm feeling relieved for the Delhi police." "We must stop politicising the issue. I would hope wisdom will prevail and we will move towards closure," Bedi added.

The Delhi Police had claimed that those killed and arrested were behind the 2008 Delhi blasts. On September 19, 2008 around 11 am, a burst of gunfire rang from the house - L-18 Batla House in Jamia Nagar, South Delhi. A gun battle was witnessed between the Delhi Police Special Cell and four alleged Indian Mujahideen terrorists. Two hours later, it was found that three men were dead, which included alleged IM mastermind Atif Amin, his accomplice Mohammed Sajid and special cell inspector Mohan Chand Sharma.

The police claimed that two other alleged IM terrorists Ariz Khan and Shahzad Ahmed escaped. While the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad arrested Shahzad two years later, Ariz is still absconding.

The Delhi Police chargesheet had claimed that Shahzad and his aides planned the September 13, 2008 serial blasts in Delhi in which 30 people were killed. The police said that the entire conspiracy was hatched at L-18, Batla House. Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma and his team got a tip-off on September 18 that an IM module was hiding out in Jamia Nagar. In the subsequent encounter, inspector Sharma was shot four times and died en route to the hospital.

However, Congress General Secreatry Digvijaya Singh had claimed that the Batla House encounter was fake. During Assembly Polls in UP in 2012, Digvijay had gone to Azamgarh and promised justice for those who were killed in the alleged fake encounter.

The Samajwadi Party had demanded a judicail enquiry in the incident. In 2009, year later, the Delhi High Court had ordered an NHRC probe and two months later, in July 2009, the Human Rights Commission had held the encounter to be genuine and said that the police action was not unlawful.

The then Home Minister P Chidamabarm had too rubbished Digvijaya's claims and when Muslim MPs demanded a probe he had termed the encounter was genuine, adding that the matter rests where it stands today. He had added that there was no need to open the matter again.