Patna (Bihar): Four accused were to be hanged and two are sentenced to life imprisonment and two to 10 years imprisonment and one accused is sentenced to seven years imprisonment in 2013 Patna’s Gandhi Maidan serial bomb blasts case.
The Patna Special NIA court on Monday delivered the quantum of punishment. Nine of the ten accused in the serial blasts that took place at the venue of then prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s Hunkar rally in Patna were convicted while one accused, Fakruddin was acquitted due to the lack of evidence against him.
The blasts were reported in the rally held in the lead-up to the 2014 Indian general election.
On October 27 in 2013, as many as six people were killed and 84 others were injured during the deadly blasts. On the same fateful day, a similar blast was reported from Patna Junction railway station. Several leaders of BJP including the then CM Narendra Modi were to take part in the rally.
Read: 2013 Gandhi Maidan blasts case: NIA Court convicts 9 out of 10 accused
After the incident, the NIA took up the case on November 6, 2013, and had filed a charge sheet against the 11 accused in August 2014. The ten accused were cadres of the Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and one minor among them was later sent to a juvenile home for three years.
The accused were identified as Haider Ali, Noman Ansari, Mohd Mujibullah Ansari, Imtiaz Alam, Ahmed Hussain, Fakruddin, Mohd. Firoz Aslam, Imtiaz Ansari, Mohd. Iftikar Alam, Azharuddin Qureshi and Taufik Ansari.
