A special court here on Wednesday convicted four persons of the serial blasts that ripped through the Walled City of Jaipur 11 years ago, killing 71 persons and leaving about 200 injured. One of the five accused, charged with sending an e-mail which claimed responsibility for the blasts on behalf of the Indian Mujahideen, was acquitted.
Those held guilty of planting the bombs and carrying out the explosions on May 13, 2008, were Mohammed Saif, Mohammed Sarwar Azmi, Saifur Rehman and Mohammed Salman. Special Judge Ajay Kumar Sharma scheduled the hearing on the quantum of sentence for the convicts for Thursday.
Public Prosecutor Sri Chand said the four persons were convicted under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Explosives Act in eight cases registered by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Rajasthan police.
One acquitted
Shahbaz Ahmed, a resident of Lucknow who was the first one to be arrested three months after the blasts, was acquitted in all the cases for want of evidence.
The convicts were between 21 and 25 years old at the time of their arrest.
The eight locations targeted in a series of nine synchronised bomb blasts are situated within a 2-km radius in the densely populated Walled City.
The court pronounced the judgment in the presence of the blast accused amid tight security in the Bani Park District Courts Complex. Three accused - Yasin Bhatkal, Asadullah Akhtar, and Mohammed Aariz - are at present lodged in Tihar Jail in Delhi, facing trial in other blast cases.
