Lagatar24 Desk
Lucknow, June 6: Waliullah Khan, a serial blasts convict in Varanasi, was sentenced to death by a sessions court and to life in jail in another case, sixteen years after the city was devastated by explosives.
On March 7, 2006, explosives at the Sankat Mochan temple and the cantonment railway station killed at least 20 persons and injured over 100 others.
Waliullah was found guilty in two instances filed under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) provisions of murder, attempt to kill, and mutilation, as well as the Explosives Act, by Ghaziabad Sessions Court Judge Jitendra Kumar Sinha. According to district government attorney Rajesh Sharma, Waliullah was acquitted in one case due to insufficient evidence.
Notably, the first blast occurred on March 7, 2006, at the Sankat Mochak temple. After 15 minutes, another explosion was recorded outside the Varanasi cantonment railway station’s first-class retiring room. A cooker bomb was recovered near the railings of a railway crossing at DashashwaMedh police station on the same day.
The lawsuit had been turned down by lawyers in Varanasi. The matter was then transferred to the Ghaziabad district court by the Allahabad High Court. In three cases against the convict, a total of 121 witnesses were presented.
The special task force investigating the bombings alleged in April 2006 that Waliullah was related to the Bangladesh-based terror group Harkat-ul-jehad Al Islami and was the mastermind behind the bombings.
