At approximately 4:45 pm on 24 September 2002, a white Ambassador car dropped off two terrorists between the ages of 20 and 25 carrying haversacks and jackets filled with automatic weapons and grenades at Gate 3 of the Akshardham Temple Complex.

[5] The perpetrators rushed towards the central walkway of the complex while firing shots at visitors and pilgrims browsing a nearby bookstall and proceeded to the main temple while throwing hand grenades.

[5] Within minutes, Gandhinagar's district police chief R. B. Brahmbhatt was dispatched to the scene and the State Commando force was also instructed to arrive at the temple complex.

At 7:30 pm, as the security guards guided 30 visitors from inside the main monument to safety, the terrorists, who had climbed atop the parikrama, opened fire at the commandos.

[1][6][7] NSG Commando Suresh Chand Yadav was awarded the highest peacetime military decoration Ashok Chakra (posthumously) for his courage and gallantry during the operation.

[8][9] On 25 September 2002, then-Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee said that the attack on the Akshardham Temple Complex was a well-thought out conspiracy and that the central government would launch a thorough investigation to get to the bottom of it.

He presented this case study, Akshardham Response: How to challenge an attack with calm and peace, at various centres, including the Sardar Patel Police Academy in Hyderabad and various Army training sessions.

A short summary of the Akshardham Attack Case Verdict is provided below: In July 2006, the POTA court awarded death sentence to Adam Ajmeri, Shan Miya alias Chand Khan, and Mufti Abdul Qyyum Mansuri.

[1] Later in May 2014, a Supreme Court bench composed of Justices A K Patnaik and Venkate Gopala Gowda acquitted all six persons, including those awarded the death penalty.

According to Brigadier Seetapathy, the gunmen carried letters in Urdu that affirmed their connection with an organization called Tehrik-E-Kasas, or Movement for Revenge, a group previously unknown to law enforcement officials.

[20] On 27 September 2002, Gujarat Police Chief K. Chakravarty interrogated the driver, Raju Thakur, and car owner, Mansukh Acharya, who had provided the white Ambassador with plate number GJ-1-U-2234 for the attack.

"[24] On 27 December, the Anti-Terrorist Squad identified the two terrorists as Kashmiris, affiliated with Lashkar-e-Taiba and based in Jammu, and ruled out the possibility of local contacts in the first breakthrough after claiming that this case reached a deadlock.

[25] Furthermore, Kaushik stated that the conspiracy to attack Akshardham had been planned in Riyadh and hatched by militant outfits, Jaish-I-Mohammad, Lashkar-I-Taiba and ISI Inter-Services Intelligence.

This evidence contradicted the claims made by Ahmedabad police, who had arrested five individuals: Salim Hanif Shaikh, Altaf Akbar Hussain Malek, Aadaam Suleman Ajmeri, Mufti Abdulqayyum Mansuri and Maulana Abdullamiya Sayyed.

"[29] Once the conspirators were in police custody, the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) Judge Sonia Gokani extended the remand for Adam Suleman Ajmeri and Abdul Qayum Mansoori until 29 September.

"[31] On 7 September 2003, Jammu Kashmir Agricultural Minister Abdul Aziz Zargar denied reports which claimed that his Manzgam residence had been a hideout from where the Akshardham Temple attack was masterminded.

"[32] The Jammu Kashmir minister Abdul Aziz Zargar resigned on 12 September amid allegations that the terrorists who carried out the Akshardham Temple attack Ahmedabad had planned the operation at his native house.

[33] On 30 September, the POTA court extended the police custody of Chand Khan until 6 October so that the Detection of Crimes Bureau (DCB) could uncover additional facts about the conspiracy and gather information about the absconding conspirators.

Special Prosecutor Dhruv stated that several questions remained unanswered because there were contradictions between Chand Khan's statements recorded by the Jammu Kashmir police and the DCB.

[36] On 4 December, the POTA court hearing the Akshardham attack case issued warrants against 26 accused, including Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Shakeel.

[37] POTA Judge Gokani issued non-bailable arrest warrants against Ibrahim and Shakeel, along with Mufti Sufiyan Rasool Parti and others who had allegedly conspired and aided in transpiring the Akshardham Temple attack.

Special Prosecutor Dhruv opened the case before POTA Judge Sonia Gokani and stated that “six persons including Kashmir based terrorist Chand Khan had allegedly conspired to attack the Akshardham Temple along with the slain terrorists.”[38] All the six accused individuals were present at the trial.

His involvement in the Akshardham attack had been primarily motivated by his desire to kill a police inspector, Basir Ahmad, who consistently failed to pay the appropriate charges whenever he sent his car to Chand Garage in Bareilly.

[45] When the verdict was announced, the investigators thanked JJ Patel, a handwriting expert who had helped them solve the case [46] by finding Abdul Qayyum Mohammed Mansuri (alias Mufti Saheb) through studying the letters found on the two slain terrorists.

On 19 March, Shaukat Hussain Ghauri contended that Ashfak Bhavnagari and Jalal Patel, who appeared as prosecution witnesses, were also supporting terrorist activities, having been present during the meetings in Saudi Arabia and having collected monies for the Akshardham attack.

[50] However, the Gujarat High Court rejected Ghauri's plea because the advocate for the State highlighted that under Section 50 of the POTA, which was applicable in the Akshardham case, the designated judge had no jurisdiction to take cognizance of the alleged involvement of witnesses in the attack.

"[52] In October, David Coleman Headley, a Pakistani-American Lashkar operative, informed US and Indian investigators that Muzzamil, aide of LeT's Chief Military commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lahvi, was involved in planning and executing the Akshardham Attack.

[53] On 25 December, the bench of Justices AK Patnaik and HL Gokhale directed the trial court to speed up the proceedings, while refusing bail for one of the two accused, Shakuatullah Ghauri.

[54] Ghauri and Majid Patel were arrested after the POTA court completed the trial against six persons in the case and charged with hatching the conspiracy and providing financial assistance in carrying out the terrorist activities.

On 16 May 2014, a Supreme Court bench composed of Justices A K Patnaik and Venkate Gopala Gowda acquitted all six persons, including those awarded the death penalty.