Life sentence for Ajmer blast case convicts

Jaipur: A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court here today sentenced Bhavesh Patel and Devendra Gupta to life in jail in the Ajmer Dargah blast case. The magistrate also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on Patel and 5,000 on Gupta.

Theblaston October 11, 2007 in the dargah of Khawaja Moinuddin Chisti at the time of Roza Iftaar, had left three pilgrims dead and 15 others injured. On March 8, the court had convicted Patel, Gupta and Joshi in the case while acquitting others including Swami Aseemanand. Joshi died soon after the blast.

Thecasewas handed over to the ATS Rajasthan and was later transferred to NIA which re-registered thecasewith the NIA police station in New Delhi on April 6, 2011. There were as many as 149 witnesses in thecaseand 451 documents were examined and the NIA filed three supplementary charge sheets in thecase.