All five convicts in Bodh Gaya blasts case get lifer

A special NIA court in Bihar on Friday awarded life imprisonment to all five Indian Mujahideen terrorists, convicted in the 2013 serial blasts that shook Mahabodhi temple in Bodh Gaya.

Earlier on May 25, Manoj Kumar Sinha, the judge who heads the special National Investigation Agency court had convicted all the five accused – Hauser Ali, Mujibullah Ansari, Umer Siddiqui, Azharuddin Siddiqui and Imtiaz Ansari.

NIA lawyer Lalan Kumar Sinha told the media persons that all the accused have got the maximum punishment, which is a life term, that could have been awarded in the case.

The serial blasts had rocked Bodh Gaya on July 7, 2013.

As per the NIA investigation, the explosions were aimed at killing Indians as well as foreign pilgrims, especially Buddhists, in a bid to take revenge against the killings of Rohingya Muslims in Burma.

Five people, including two monks, were injured in the blasts.

Out of the 13 bombs that were planted, nine exploded while others were defused. Besides the five convicts, the sixth accused in the case – a juvenile was convicted by a juvenile court in October 2017 and was sentenced to a remand home for three years.

Incidentally, all the six convicts are also facing trial in another blasts case which took place in 2013 at an election rally in Patna’s Gandhi Maidan which was being addressed by the then Gujarat chief minister and now Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Six people were killed and 89 others were injured in the blasts.