Lagatar24 Desk
Ahmedabad, Feb 8: A special court in Ahmedabad convicted 49 persons in the matter of the Ahmedabad serial blasts in 2008, which killed 56 people and injured over 200 others.
In the case involving 21 synchronised explosives that rocked the city of Gujarat, Judge AR Patel also acquitted 28 other suspects, giving them the benefit of the doubt. The court said that the hearing to determine the quantum of sentence for the convicted defendants will begin on Wednesday.
Safdar Nagori, Javed Ahmed, and Atikur Rehman were among those found guilty by the court. The court had ended the trial against the 77 suspects in September 2021, after 13 years of waiting for a verdict in the terror attack.
According to special public prosecutor Amit Patel, the 49 defendants were convicted under Section 16 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Statute, which deals with terrorism, and other parts of the severe act, as well as Indian Penal Code Sections 302 (murder) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy).
He claimed that the prosecution claimed the incident was a terrorist attack, and that 547 charge sheets were submitted and 1,163 witnesses were questioned during the trial. “The court found 28 defendants not guilty and granted them the benefit of the doubt. More information will be revealed in the judgement, which we have not yet read “, he stated.
Mohammad Irfan, Nasir Ahmad, and Shakeel Ahmed are among those who have been acquitted. On Tuesday, all of the accused appeared in court through video conferencing from various jails. “They will also be practically present at the hearing on the punishment quantum,” Patel said.
In September of last year, the court adjudicated the case against the 77 defendants. The trial of 78 persons linked to the proscribed terror group Indian Mujahideen began in December 2009. (IM). After one of the accused turned approver, the number of accused was reduced to 77.
Four more suspects were apprehended subsequently, but their trials have yet to begin, according to a top government lawyer. Fifty six people were killed and over 200 injured in 21 blasts that hit the city within a span of 70 minutes on July 26, 2008.
The authorities alleged that the explosives were carried out by members of the IM, a militant offshoot of the proscribed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). The IM terrorists were said to have plotted the bombings as retaliation for the 2002 post-Godhra riots, in which numerous members of the minority population died.
Days after the Ahmedabad blast, police discovered bombs in various locations of Surat, prompting the filing of 20 FIRs in Ahmedabad and 15 in Surat. After the court consolidated all 35 FIRs, the trial was held.
