NEW DELHI, Feb 5: An Indian court on Tuesday sentenced three men for helping hijack an Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar in 1999, an incident that was to become a factor in the murder of Daniel Pearl, Wall Street Journal’s correspondent in Karachi.

Special judge in the Patiala trial court Inderjit Singh Walia sentenced Abdul Latif, Bhupal Man Damai also known as Yusaf Nepali and Dalip Kumar Bhujel to life terms for hijacking and murder of an Indian passenger among other charges.

The IC-814 flight was hijacked on December 24, 1999 while flying over Lucknow. It was on its way to Delhi from Kathmandu and the three were accused of helping the hijackers by arranging their stay, passport, tickets and with arms and ammunition.

Five actual hijackers — Ibrahim Athar, who is a brother of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, S. A. Sayed alias Doctor, Z. I. Mistri alias Bhola and R. G. Verma alias Shakir — commandeered the plane to Kandahar after it was refused landing request in Pakistan. Following tense negotiations with Indian officials the hijackers successfully got Azhar and two other terrorists released from Indian jails in exchange for the passengers and the plane. Indian foreign minister at the time Jaswant Singh and senior officials escorted the freed inmates to Kandahar where the exchange took place. The freed prisoners included Omar Sheikh, now in a Pakistan prison for the murder of Daniel Pearl. The third man released by India was Mushtaq Zargar, chief of Al-Umar Mujahideen militant outfit.

The defence case contended that the three men sentenced on Tuesday were made a scapegoat after the real culprits and their accomplices were set free by the Indian government.

While Nepali has been accused by the CBI as the person who handed over passport and tickets to the hijackers, Bhujel was accused by the investigating agency of providing them with arms and ammunition. The court proceedings were held inside the high security Central Jail.

The media were not allowed inside the jail in Patiala where the three conspirators are lodged since their arrest about eight years back in connection with the hijacking.