2 held guilty in 2005 Shramjeevi Express blast case

Alocal court here has held two persons guilty in the 2005 Shramjeevi Express blast case in which 14 people were killed.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Rajesh Kumar Rai on Friday held Nafikul Vishwas and Hilal guilty in the case, District government advocate Virendra Maurya said.

The quantum of punishment will be pronounced on January 2.

Fourteen people were killed and 62 others were injured when an explosion ripped apart a coach of the Patna-New Delhi train near the Jaunpur station in Uttar Pradesh around 5.00 pm on July 28, 2005. The massive explosion rocked the train as it crossed the Harpalganj railway station and reached Hariharpur railway crossing.

The RDX had been kept in the toilet. RDX has been used in several terrorist attacks on Indian targets, including the Ayodhya train bombing of June 2000.

Witnesses had reported that two young men had boarded the train at Jaunpur with a white suitcase. Shortly afterwards, both of them leapt out of the moving train and fled without their suitcase. A few minutes later, the explosion shook the carriage.