A tight security blanket has been thrown around Presidency jail, where city civil and sessions judge Basudeb Majumdar will deliver the verdict in the American Center attack case on Tuesday. A key accused in the case is crimelord Aftab Ansari.

The media will be denied entry into the room during the pronouncement of the verdict, something that has never happened since Independence.

?The security in and around the jail has been stepped up,? jails minister Biswanath Choudhury said on Monday.

The attack, in which five policemen were killed and seven were seriously injured, took place around 6.10 am on January 22, 2002. Of the 12 accused, the CID could arrest only six, including Ansari.

The chargesheet was submitted on April 26, 2004, and the trial started in the city civil and sessions court of Pyarilal Dutta.

While the trial was in progress, the sleuths were warned of an international gang?s plot to snatch Ansari en route to court from Presidency jail.

The government then moved the high court, seeking leave to hold the trial in the jail itself. The plea was granted.

Altogether, 130 witnesses from Calcutta, Howrah, Delhi, Rajasthan, Bihar and Jharkhand deposed during the trial.

Dutta retired halfway through the trial and the case was shifted to Majumdar.