Ahmedabad Blast Case / 38 sentenced to death, 11 convicts life imprisonment; The country was shaken by 21 blasts in 70 minutes

The culprits of the 2008 Ahmedabad bomb blasts have been sentenced after 13 years. Special court of Gujarat has given death sentence to 38 convicts of this serial bomb blast. Eleven people have been sentenced to life imprisonment. The court had completed the hearing in this case last Tuesday and had already convicted 49 people.

28 accused were acquitted

The court had convicted 49 people in the case and acquitted 28 other accused. In the more than 13-year-old case, the court had completed trial proceedings in September last year. The police had claimed that people affiliated with the terrorist organization Indian Mujahideen carried out these attacks to avenge the Gujarat riots in 2002, in which several people from the minority community were killed.

Ahmedabad was shaken by blasts one after the other

On 26 July 2008, Ahmedabad was rocked by 21 bomb blasts in a span of 70 minutes. 56 people were killed and more than 200 were injured in these attacks. The police had claimed that people affiliated with the terrorist organization Indian Mujahideen carried out these attacks to avenge the 2002 Gujarat riots (Godhra massacre), in which many people from the minority community were killed.

Trial started with 78 accused

A few days after the serial blasts in Ahmedabad, the police had recovered several bombs from different areas of Surat. After this, 20 FIRs were registered in Ahmedabad and 15 in Surat. The trial against the 78 accused began in December 2009 after the court clubbed all 35 FIRs together. One of the accused later became a government witness. Later four more accused were also arrested in this case, but their trial is yet to start. During the trial of the case, the prosecution examined 1100 witnesses.