A special designated court on Tuesday held 49 accused as guilty, acquitting 28 in 2008 Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts case that had killed 56 people and left over 200 injured. The court will hear the pleas of the guilty on Wednesday before pronouncing the sentencing.
The special designated judge Ambalal R Patel pronounced the judgement virtually while holding 49 accused guilty under sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), sedition, (124-A), promoting enmity between different groups on religious grounds ( 153-A) and various sections of Unlawful Activities (prevention) Act. The court also acquitted 28 others while giving them benefit of doubt and lack of evidence. One accused who had turned approver was also acquitted by the court.
On July 26, 2008, simultaneous bomb blasts had killed 56 persons in Ahmedabad and left over 200 injured. The police registered 20 FIRs in Ahmedabad while 15 other FIRs were registered in Surat, where bombs were recovered from various spots. Both the cases were merged for trial as police investigation claimed that "they were part of the same conspiracy" by a terrorist outfit Indian Mujahideen, a breakaway faction of banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
The investigation was carried out by Detection of Crime Branch (DCB), Ahmedabad which claimed that the motive behind the terror strikes was "avenging atrocities on Muslims during 2002 post Godhra riots."
Among those convicted are Safdar Nagori, former head of SIMI, Yasin Khan, Irfan Mansuri Nasir Ahmed, Shakil Ahmed, Salim Sipahi, Mohammed Zakir, Ahmed Bava alias Abubakar Barelvi, among others.
Majority of the guilty as well as acquitted persons had been languishing in jail for nearly 13 years except Naved Qadri who was granted bail on medical grounds as he was found to be suffering from schizophrenia. Some of them have been convicted in terror related cases in other parts of the state. The convicts and acquitted hail from Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, among other states.
The prosecution had filed over 500 chargesheets and cited 1100 witnesses. According to MN Shaikh, one of the defense lawyers, "it was considerably one of the longest criminal trials recorded in recent times." The prosecution had to approach court to seek permission to use pictures of the suspects from the chargesheet in order for their identification by the witnesses in the trial as due to passage of time, the suspects have put on weight and grown beards. The government had some had "enlarged eyebrows."
The coordinated serial blasts had ripped across the city. The blasts had taken place in Maninagar, Sarkhej, Isanpur, Bapunagar, Naroda Patiya, among other localities. This terror strike is also known for having a trauma centre at civil hospital in Asarva, where the victims of explosion were being taken, under its target.