NIA court convicts 10 people, acquits one in 2013 Patna serial blasts

Patna: A special NIA court on Wednesday convicted 10 persons in connection with the serial blasts that took place in 2013 at the venue here of a political rally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was then the chief minister of Gujarat.

Special NIA judge Gurvinder Mehrotra, who passed the order, also acquitted one of the accused for want of evidence.

“The NIA had submitted charge sheets against 11 people in the course of the investigation. Of these, one was a minor and his case was referred to the juvenile justice board. The remaining were put on trial. “Today, all but one were convicted. The quantum of sentence will be pronounced on November 1,” Special Public Prosecutor Lalan Prasad Singh, who appeared for the probe agency, told PTI-Bhasha.

Those who were pronounced guilty are Imtiaz Ansari, Mujibullah, Haider Ali, Firoz Aslam, Omar Ansari, Iftekhar, Ahmed Husain, Umair Siddiqui, and Azharuddin. The court acquitted Fakhruddin, he added.

The blasts had taken place at the Gandhi Maidan on October 27, 2013, when the BJP’s ‘Hunkar Rally’ addressed by Modi, who had been declared the party’s prime ministerial candidate, was underway.

The explosions and the ensuing stampede had claimed six lives, while scores were injured.

Although no terror outfit claimed responsibility for the serial blasts, the involvement of SIMI and its new avatar, the Indian Mujahideen, have been suspected.