India / 9 convicted in case over serial blasts in 2013 at then PM candidate Modi's rally

New Delhi: A special NIA court on Wednesday convicted nine out of 10 accused in the 2013 serial blasts in Patna's Gandhi Maidan. 

At least six people were killed and over 90 sustained injuries during the blasts that occured during a rally by the then prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi at Patna's Gandhi Maidan on October 27, 2013. 

The court of additional district and sessions judge Gurwinder Singh Malhotra, which held the nine guilty of planting and detonating the explosions, is likely to pronounce the quantum of the sentence on November 1.

According to multiple media reports, six of the explosions took place around the venue of the rally while two bombs went off within 150 metres of the dais from where Modi addressed the gathering. Another bomb went off some 20 minutes before Modi and top BJP leaders took the stage. Four live bombs were found near the spot of the rally later. A crude bomb reportedly exploded at a toilet near Patna railway station.

However, Modi went ahead with the rally to “calm nerves” and prevent a stampede at the packed Gandhi Maidan.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over the case on November 6, 2013, and filed a chargesheet against 11 accused, including a minor, in August 2014. 

One of the accused, Tariq Ansari, succumbed to his injuries from the bomb that went off inside a toilet near the Patna railway station. Meanwhile, the minor accused was sentenced on October 12, 2017 for three years by the Juvenile Justice Board after being found guilty.

The NIA nabbed alleged mastermind Haider Ali alias ‘Black Beauty’, Taufeeq Ansari, Mohammed Mojibullah Ansari and Numan Ansari in connection with the case in 2014.

The NIA said the accused had planned the blasts at the Gandhi Maidan rally after they failed to get close to Modi at previous rallies in New Delhi, Chhatisgarh and Uttar Pradesh that year.

The final hearing of the case started in June 2018.