2013 Modi rally blasts: Four get death, five jail in Patna court

On October 27, 2013, seven bombs went off just before Modi’s rally at Gandhi Maidan, the last one at 12.25 pm, 20 minutes before he and senior leaders took the stage. The blasts also left 90 peole injured.

A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Monday awarded death sentence to four of the nine people convicted in the case of serial blasts that left six dead at the venue of an election rally in Patna 2013, which was addressed by Narendra Modi, the then Gujarat chief minister and BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.

Nine convicts of the 2013 Modi rally blasts taken by police at Civil Court in Patna on Monday. (Santosh Kumar/HT Photo)

Special NIA judge Gurwinder Singh Malhotra sentenced the five other convicts to prison terms ranging from seven years to life in jail.

All nine were convicted on October 27 by the same court.

On October 27, 2013, seven bombs went off just before Modi’s rally at Gandhi Maidan, the last one at 12.25 pm, 20 minutes before he and senior leaders took the stage. The blasts also left 90 peole injured. A total of 17 improvised explosive devices (IEDs), including the seven that detonated, were found in and around the Gandhi Maidan.

Those awarded capital punishment are Imtiyaz Ansari, Haider Ali alias Abdullah alias “Black Beauty”, Noman Ansari and Mohammed Mujibullah Ansari.

Umar Siddiqui and Azharuddin Qureshi were sentenced to life imprisonment, Ahmed Hussain and Feroz Aslam to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment while Mohammed Iftekhar Alam was awarded a seven-year prison term.

Five of the convicts — Haider Ali alias Black Beauty, Imtiaz Ansari, Umer Siddique, Azharuddin Qureshi and Mujibullah Ansari — are already serving life sentences for Bodh Gaya blasts, which took place just over three months before the blasts at Gandhi Maidan.

Special public prosecutor Lalan Kumar Sinha said the nine were convicted for criminal conspiracy, murder, attempt to murder, waging war against the government of India, conspiracy to wage war against the government, destroying evidence and the anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

Two suspects, Imtiyaz Ansari and Mohammad Tariq Ajam, were also injured in the blasts and revealed the names of their accomplices during interrogation.

Ajam died during treatment at the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH).

Senior police officer Manu Mahraaj, who was Patna’s senior superintendent of police when the blasts took place, said Imtiaz’s arrest after his injury in an accidental blast at Patna railway junction on the day of Modi’s rally blew the lid off the conspiracy. “There would have been more blasts if the culprit were not arrested,” Maharaaj said.

The then Bihar police chief, Abhyanand, told HT that they were happy with the court’s judgment. The former DGP said police were able to arrest one of the accused on the spot and avert a stampede at Gandhi Maidan.