Darbhanga (Bihar) : On October 27, 2013, there were bomb blasts at the public meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi (then the Chief Minister of Gujarat) held at Gandhi Maidan in Patna. In this case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had arrested Mehre Alam. On his tip, on October 29, 2013, the NIA went to raid Mirpur in Muzaffarpur.
Later, the accused escaped from the NIA. After this, case number 612/13 was registered against Mehre Alam in the city police station of Muzaffarpur in 2013, since then he was absconding. Mehre Alam is a resident of Sidhauli under Ashok Paper Mill police station area of Darbhanga district. Alam is now arrested at Dharbhanga.
The STF team has taken the accused with them for questioning. If sources are to be believed, Mehre Alam is close to Monu, another accused in the bomb blasts at Gandhi Maidan and Patna Junction. Monu was a resident of Samastipur district and studied polytechnic while staying in Darbhanga. In the same sequence, Mehre Alam met Monu in a library. After which the closeness between the two increased.
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On October 27, 2013, 'Hunkar rally' of the then Chief Minister of Gujarat and BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was organized at Gandhi Maidan in Patna. There was a huge crowd of people in Gandhi Maidan and the surrounding area. People continued to come to the railway station also.
At around 9:30 am, the first explosion took place on platform number 10 of Patna Junction. After a while there were many blasts in Gandhi Maidan. In that serial bomb blasts, 6 people were killed, while 87 people were injured. The investigation of this case was handed over to the NIA. After a long investigation process, the NIA filed a charge sheet against 11 accused on 21 August 2014.
In November 2021, the NIA court convicted 9 persons. Four of them - Haider Ali, Noman Ansari, Mohd. Mujibullah Ansari and Imtiaz Alam - were sentenced to death. Two convicts got life imprisonment, while 2 convicts were sentenced to 10 years each and one convict was sentenced to seven years.
