5 IM militants guilty of Bodh Gaya blasts

Jitendra K Shrivastava

Tribune News Service

Patna, May 25

A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Patna on Friday held five Indian Mujahideen militants guilty in the 2013 serial blasts of Bodh Gaya, Bihar. The quantum of punishment would be pronounced later this month.

The special NIA court of Manoj Kumar Sinha found all five accused of the serial blast guilty under various sections of the IPC, Unlawful Activity (Prevention) Act and Explosive Act based on the circumstantial and scientific evidences.

The five accused have been identified as Imtiyaz Ansari, Haider Ali, Mujib Ullah, Omair Siddiqui and Azharuddin Qureishi. The sixth accused, Taufiq Ahmed, who aged less than 18 years, had already been convicted with a sentence of three years by a juvenile court after it found concrete evidence against him.

The court would pronounce the quantum of sentence on May 31. “The prosecution produced ample evidence based on scientific and circumstantial investigation and produced 90 witnesses during the trial. The court held all the five accused guilty of the serial blasts in Bodh Gaya in which several Buddhist pilgrims had been injured,” said NIA counsel Lalan Prasad Sinha.

He said the statements were recorded during the trial in which the accused had conceded that they had planted nine bombs and exploded them to take revenge of alleged atrocities on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar by the Buddhists.

Against the NIA counsel plea, defending lawyer Surya Prakash Singh alleged that the NIA failed to produce CCTV footage before the court. “We will think of further course of action once the sentence is pronounced,” he said.

On July 7, 2013, nine bombs had exploded in a series within 30 minutes at Buddhist town of Bodh Gaya in Bihar. The first NIA court was set up in 2013 and it is the first case in which the court pronounced its verdict so far.

Sentencing on May 31 

• The NIA court will pronounce quantum of punishment on May 31
• On July 7, 2013, nine bombs had exploded within 30 minutes at Buddhist town of Bodh Gaya in Bihar