2015 Ara court blast: Death sentence to one; life term for seven

On January 23, 2015, a female sucide bomber had triggered a blast at the court premises to help criminal Lambu Sharma flee. Two people, including the bomber, were killed in the blast.

A district and sessions court of Bhojpur on Tuesday handed out capital punishment to notorious gangster Sachidanand alias Lambu Sharma and life term to seven others in connection with a bomb blast in Ara court that had left two dead and 15 injured on January 23, 2015.

Lambu Sharma is the main accused in the Ara bomb blast case. (Arun Sharma / HT File Photo)

The court of additional district and session judge (ADJ-3) Tribhuwan Yadav also imposed a cash penalty of ₹45,000 on Sharma and ₹40,000 on seven others who were given life imprisonment.

On January 23, 2015, a woman, identified as Nagina Devi, resident of Balia in Uttar Ptadesh, had come to the court premises as a suicide bomber with a design to set notorious criminal Sharma free from custody.

As the prison van reached the court premises, the woman triggered the blast. Taking advantage, Sharma, along with Akhilesh Upadhyay alias Musa Upadhyay fled.

The woman died on the spot, while a police constable, Amit Kumar, succumbed to his injuries received in the blast subsequently. On June 23, 2015 Sharma (24) was arrested from New Delhi.

During interrogation, Sharma, suspected to be an expert bomb maker, had told the police that MLA Narendra Kumar alias Sunil Pandey had given him a ₹50 lakh contract to kill Uttar Pradesh don-turnedpolitician Mukhtar Ansari, who is at present lodged in Agra Central Jail. He also confessed to have stayed at the residence of an MP from Bihar in New Delhi for three months after escaping from the Ara court.

The police had filed a chargesheet against 11 persons, including former JD (U) legislator Sunil Pandey.

The court pronounced the quantum of punishment against eight convicts after a marathon trial that saw many witnesses giving evidence against the accused, said additional public prosecutor Prashant Ranjan.

The prosecution sought capital punishment for the convicts while the defence counsel pleaded for leniency. Ranjan said those awarded life sentence included Pramod Singh, Akhilesh Upadhyay, Naim Mian, Shyam Binay Sharma, Anshu Kumar, Rinku Yadav and Chand Mian.

Earlier, the court had acquitted three accused, including Vijay Sharma, Sanjay Sonar and the former JDU MLA Pandey, saying there was not sufficient evidence to link them in the case.

Reacting to the court order, Pandey said it was the victory of justice. “Those who wanted to implicate me in a false case through a political conspiracy have not succeeded,” he said.

Pandey, who was in the JD (U) in 2015, is currently in the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP). As news of the sentencing spread, many advocates and court staff said their long wait for justice had finally ended.