Ahmedabad serial blasts case: Gujarat court convicts 49 accused, acquits 28

Gandhinagar (Ahmedabad): A Gujarat court on Tuesday convicted 49 accused and acquitted 28 others in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial bomb blast case. Justice AR Patel will pronounce the quantum of punishment on Wednesday. All convicts will be brought in the court when the quantum of punishment is pronounced by the Judge. Also read | Work from home ends; schools also reopen for Classes 9 to 12 in Delhi Within a span of 70 minutes, as many as 21 bomb blasts had taken place in Ahmedabad on July 26, 2008. The terror attack had led to the death of 56 persons, who were killed at various places in the city due to the bomb blasts and over 200 people were also injured. The Islamic militant group, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, had claimed responsibility for the attacks. Case details  At least 56 persons were killed and over 200 injured in 21 bomb blasts that rocked Ahmedabad city within a span of 70 minutes on July 26, 2008. The police had claimed people associated with banned terror outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM), a faction of radicals of the outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), were involved in the blasts. It was alleged that Indian Mujahideen terrorists had planned and executed these blasts as a revenge for the 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat, in which several persons from the minority community had died. The police had recovered bombs from different parts of Surat. Following the recovery, 20 FIRs were registered in Ahmedabad and 15 in Surat. The trial was conducted after the court merged all 35 FIRs into one. The trial commenced against 78 accused and the number came down to 77 after one of them turned an approver. Also read | Elections 2022: ECI grants further relaxation for physical public meetings

The special court initially heard the case from inside the Sabarmati Central Jail for security reasons. When the trial was underway, some of the accused had allegedly tried to escape by digging a 213 feet long tunnel in the jail in 2013.