Terrorist Waliullah Khan, who was convicted in the 2006 Varanasi serial blasts, was on Monday sentenced to the death penalty and life imprisonment by a Ghaziabad court.
On June 4, Waliullah Khan was held guilty by the court in two cases, 16 years after the serial blasts rocked the holy city of Varanasi.
The blasts at the Sankat Mochan temple and the cantonment railway station in March 2006 had claimed the lives of at least 20 people and left over 100 injured. A third bomb, which did not explode, was found in Godaulia.
District Sessions Judge Jitendra Kumar Sinha convicted Waliullah in two cases which were lodged under IPC sections of murder, attempt to murder and mutilation and under the Explosives Act, district government counsel Rajesh Sharma told PTI. He said that the accused was acquitted in one case due to inadequate evidence.
On 7th March 2006, the first blast took place at 6.15 pm inside the Sankat Mochak temple in the Lanka police station. After 15 minutes, another bomb exploded outside the first-class retiring room at Varanasi cantonment railway station.
On the same day, a cooker bomb was also found near the railings of a railway crossing in DashmaVedh police station. Lawyers in Varanasi had refused to plead the case. The Allahabad High Court had transferred the case to the Ghaziabad district court.
Lawyers in Varanasi had refused to plead the case. The Allahabad High Court had transferred the case to the Ghaziabad district court.
In all three cases, 121 witnesses were produced before the court.
In April 2006, the special task force investigating the blasts claimed that he was linked to a terrorist outfit in Bangladesh, Harkat-ul-jehad Al Islami He was the mastermind behind the blasts.
