The special National Investigating Agency (NIA) court in Patna sentenced four persons convicted in the Patna serial blast case of 2013 to death on Monday. It handed down life imprisonment to two others, 10 years in jail to another two and seven years’ imprisonment to one person.
On October 27, the special NIA court of Justice Gurvinder Singh Malhotra had convicted nine of the 10 accused. One person was acquitted for lack of evidence.
Six people were killed and 80 others were injured in the blasts at Hunkar rally in Patna in October, 2013. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was then Gujarat Chief Minister, was among the NDA leaders were present at the rally.
All the accused were said to be members of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and Indian Mujahideen (IM). One Tariq Ansari had died while planting a bomb inside a toilet at Patna junction.
Out of the nine convicts, six were from Ranchi in Jharkhand, two from Mirzapur in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh and one from Raipur in Chhattisgarh. All the accused are currently lodged in the Beur central jail in Patna.
The NIA had taken up the case on November 6, 2013. In all, 250 prosecution witnesses deposed before the trial court for cross examination.
