RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, Nov.1: The severity of the punishment for the convicts of the 2013 Patna Gandhi Maidan serial bombings case has been announced today, with four of the convicts being sentenced to death, two to life in prison, and two to ten years rigorous prison. One of the accused has been sentenced to seven years in jail.
Out of nine sentenced four have a Jharkhand connection. The four included Haider Ali alias Black Beauty, Noman Ansari, Mohammed Muzibullah Ansari and Mohammed Imtiyaz Ansari.
Five from other parts of the country include Imtiyaz Alam, Ahmed Hussain, Mohammed Firoz Aslam, Mohammed Iftikar Alam and Azarahuddin Quereshi. One who was acquitted is Mohammed Faqruddin.
Those who got death sentences include Noman Ansari, Haider Ali, Mohammed Mojibullah Ansari and Imtiyaz Ansari. Those awarded life imprisonment include Umar Siddiqui Azaharuddin. The convicts who got imprisonment of 10 years include Ahmed Hussain and Firoz Alam. One who was awarded seven years imprisonment is Iftikar Alam.
The special NIA court on Oct.27 had found nine of the ten convicts guilty in the 2013 Patna Gandhi Maidan serial bombings case, in which six people were killed and 80 were injured. Apart from Gandhi Maidan, the serial blast had also taken place on platform no. 10 of Patna Junction.
Ranchi residents welcomed the judgment
“Gunahgar ko saja milni hi chahiye (those commit crime must get punishment),” said Rizwan Ali Ansari, Central President of Ansari Mahapanchayat, who had organized a programme in Slither, from where one of the terrorists, Imtiyaz Ansari, is associated.
Rizwan Ali, who is also a professor of Ranchi University PG department, said, “People of Sithio are never in favour of terrorism and they have already declared that those committed crime should be punished.”
A section of people said as the judgment was pronounced; Sithio witnessed calm but Mukhia of Sithio village, Shankar Kacchap, denied the fact. “Nothing unusual was observed in the village. It was like any normal day,” he said.
Mohammed Minhaz, another locality resident, echoed Kachhap. “It was rumour. I reside in the village and I did not see anything abnormal today. Maybe Godi Media is spreading rumors,” he said.
The court had convicted the 9 accused under various sections of the IPC Act, various sections of the Explosives Act, UA (P) Act and the Railway Act. In 2014, after the filing of the charge sheet against all the accused, so far 187 people were testified in the court.
The explosions occurred at then-prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s “Hunkar” rally. Six of the blasts occurred near the rally’s venue, while two of them occurred within 150 metres of the platform where Modi delivered his speech. The last bomb went off at 12:25 p.m., 20 minutes before Modi and other top BJP leaders were scheduled to take the stage. After then, four live bombs were recovered near the venue.
