A special NIA court in Patna sentenced four Indian Mujahideen and SIMI terrorists to death for serial blasts in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Hunkar Rally' in Patna in October 2013. The other two Indian Mujahideen and SIMI terrorists have got life imprisonment, two have got 10 years imprisonment, and one has got seven years imprisonment. One accused was let free for lack of evidence.
The voting for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections was to start soon, and then Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi had gone to Patna's Gandhi Maidan on October 27, 2013, to address the 'Hunkar Rally'.
Serial blasts in Patna's Gandhi Maidan and Patna Railway Station left six people dead and over 100 injured. Terrorists had detonated 7 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) while 10 others did not explode at the rally venue.
The four terrorists awarded the death penalty are Imtiaz Ansari, Haider Ali alias 'Black Beauty', Noman Ansari and Muzibullah Ansari. Umar Sidiqqi and Azaharuddin Kuresi have been given life imprisonment, while Ahmed Hussain and Md. Feroz Aslam were awarded 10 years rigorous imprisonment, and Md. Iftikhar Alam has been given a 7-year jail term. Haider Ali, alias 'Black Beauty' was the mastermind of the case.
The Special NIA court in Patna had convicted terrorists on Wednesday (October 27), and the quantum of sentence was delivered on Monday (November 1). The case was transferred to the NIA on November 6, 2013, and the court examined statements of over 250 witnesses in the case.
"It was an inter-state conspiracy. The blasts were hatched in Raipur while the materials to make the explosives were procured from Jharkhand. The blasts took place in Patna," the India Today TV quoted lawyer Lallan Prasad Sinha, who represented the NIA in the case.
Sending a strong message to the terrorist organisations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not cancelled his rally.
