A special NIA court in Patna on Monday sentenced to death four of the nine convicts it had held guilty of carrying out bomb explosions during then NDA Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s ‘Hunkar Rally’ in Patna’s Gandhi Maidan in 2013.
On October 27, the special National Investigation Agency court had convicted nine out of 10 accused. Apart from the four given a death sentence, two have been given a life sentence, two others 10 years imprisonment, and one 7 years imprisonment.
The serial bomb blasts shook Patna on October 27, 2013, and the case was transferred to the NIA on November 6, 2013.
Serial bombs had exploded in Gandhi Maidan, the venue of Narendra Modi’s 2014 parliamentary elections rally, while he was addressing the gathering. Bombs had also exploded at the Patna railway station. Six persons died and over 90 persons were injured in the blasts.
A total of seven bombs went off, in and around Patna’s Gandhi Maidan.
The four convicts who have been given the death penalty are Imtiaz Ansari, Haider Ali, Noman Ansari and Muzibullah Ansari. Umar Sidiqqi and Azaharuddin Kuresi have been sentenced to life, Ahmed Hussain and Feroz Aslam were given 10 years rigorous imprisonment and Iftikhar Alam has been given a 7-year jail term.
They were charged for sedition, criminal conspiracy, murder, attempt to murder and UAPA.
One accused Faqeuddin was acquitted by the NIA court for lack of evidence.
NIA suspected the convicts of being of the Indian Mujahideen and the Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
The NIA recorded the statements of over 250 witnesses in the case since it took over on November 6, 2013. All the convicts are currently lodged in Patna’s Beur jail.
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Rushda Fathima Khan is the Staff Reporter for The Cognate.
