Nine convicted, sentence on Wed

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">GHAZIABAD: A local court has convicted nine persons for the murder of noted theatre activist Safdar Hashmi here 14 years ago.<br /><br />Additional District Sessions Judge C D Rai on Monday found the accused guilty after examining about 24 witnesses and will sentence them on Wednesday.<br /><br />Those convicted are Mukesh Sharma, Devi Saran Sharma, Jitendra, Ramautar, Vinod, Yunus, Bhagat Bahadur, Tahir and Ramesh.<br /><br />Hashmi, a CPI(M) leader, was beaten to death while performing a street play <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Halla Bol</span> during municipal elections in Jhandapur Sahibabad area here on January one, 1989 by the main accused Mukesh Sharma and others.<br /><br />The theatre activist was campaigning in favour of one Ramanath Jha against whom Mukesh Sharma was contesting.<br /><br />All the accused were present in the court on Monday.<br /><br />Reacting to the court ruling, CPI(M) General Secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet said "it is a welcome verdict, though belated". </div> </div>