Indian Court Convicts Pune German Bakery Blast Conspirator Mirza Baig; Five Other Suspects Continue To Evade Arrest

A court in India convicted Mirza Himayat Baig, the lone arrested accused in connection with a bomb blast at German Bakery restaurant in the western Indian city of Pune in February 2010.

The blast targeted the bakery when it was full of tourists and students, killing 17 people and wounding 64. Five foreigners were among the dead.

German Bakery is located in an upmarket area of Pune, close to the Osho Ashram, a mystic meditation center, and the Jewish Chabad House.

Five other suspects -- Mohsin Choudhary, Yasin Bhatkal, Riyaz Bhatkal, Iqbal Bhatkal (all Indian Mujahideen members) and Faiyaz Kagzi -- are at large. The Anti-Terror Squad, or ATS, did not prosecute the seventh suspect in the case -- Zabiuddin Ansari, alias Abu Jundal -- despite his name being on the charge sheet, India Today reports.

Jundal was arrested in Delhi in June last year in connection with the deadly Mumbai attacks of 2008. According to the charge sheet, he had trained Baig to make bombs when Baig visited Colombo in 2008, India Today reports.

Baig was arrested in September 2010 after investigators found a cache of explosives at his home in Latur in Maharashtra state.

The defense argued that Baig was not in Pune on Feb. 13, 2010, at the time of the blast.

He will be sentenced on Thursday.

German Bakery, frequented by foreign tourists, reopened for business in February this year, according to an NDTV report.