2013 Patna serial blasts: HC commutes 4 convicts’ death sentence to 30 years in jail

Patna: The Patna High Court on Wednesday commuted the capital punishment awarded to four convicts in the 2013 serial blasts case to 30 years of imprisonment.

A division bench headed by Justice Ashutosh Kumar also upheld the life imprisonment awarded to two other convicts by a special NIA court.

The explosions took place in and around the Gandhi Maidan here during an election rally addressed by Narendra Modi, who was then the Gujarat chief minister and the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.

Talking to PTI, NIA special public prosecutor Manoj Kumar Singh said, “The division bench commuted the death sentence awarded to four persons convicted in the 2013 serial blasts at Gandhi Maidan to 30 years of imprisonment. The four are Haider Ali, Noman Ansari, Mohd Mujibullah Ansari and Imtiyaz Alam”.

Besides, the HC also upheld the life imprisonment awarded to two other convicts — Umar Siddiqui and Azharuddin Qureishi, he said.

A special NIA court had, in November 2021, pronounced the death sentence to four of the nine convicts in the 2013 serial blasts case.

Two other convicts were sentenced to life imprisonment while another two got 10 years of imprisonment and one got a 7-year jail term.

In 2013, at least six bombs went off in Patna during Modi’s “hunkar” rally.

The blasts had left six people dead and several others injured.

The first blast took place at Patna railway station, and the others in and around Gandhi Maidan before Modi and other leaders reached the venue.