8 JMB terrorists convicted in Bodh Gaya temple blast case
Darpan News Desk IANS, 10 Dec, 2021 11:32 AM
New Delhi, Dec 10 (IANS) An NIA Special Court in Patna on Friday convicted eight Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) terrorists for planting three IEDs -- one of which exploded -- in January 2018, in and around the premises of Bodh Gaya temple complex in Bihar ahead of the scheduled visit of the Dalai Lama and the then Governor of the eastern state, officials said.
The NIA court convicted the eight individuals after going through the evidence, and hearing arguments of both the defence and the prosecution side.
The court convicted JMB terrorists -- P. Sheikh, Ahmad Ali, Nur Alam Momin, Adil Sheikh, Dilwar Hossain, Abdul Karim alias Korim, Mustafizur Rahman alias Shaheen and Arif Hussain, under sections 121A, 122, 123 of IPC, Sec 16, 18, & 20 of UA (P) Act and Sec 4 & 5 of Explosive Substance Act, a statement said.
The NIA had registered the case on February 3, 2018.
The first Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was detected at the gate number 5 of 'Kalchakra Maidan' and it had exploded while it was being secured. Two more IEDs were later detected near 'Sri Lankan Monastery', and at the stairs of gate number 4 of Mahabodhi temple.
The probe by NIA established that the convicted individuals had hatched a conspiracy by way of planting IEDs at Bodhgaya Temple complex, ahead of the dignitaries' visit.
The JMB terrorists had contacted each other, travelled together, conspired and procured explosives, fabricated and planted these three IEDs at Bodh Gaya temple complex.
In 2018, a chargesheet was filed against three arrested accused -- P. Sheikh, Ahmad Ali and Nur Alam, and supplementary chargesheet was later filed in 2019 against 6 more individuals -- Adil Sheikh, Dilwar Hossain, Abdul Karim alias Korim, Mustafizur Rahman, Jahidul Islam alias Kausar and Arif Hussain.
The quantum of sentence against the eight convicted on Friday would be pronounced on December 17 by the NIA Special court.
The area has been cordoned off and additional forces have reached the spot. Police said the terrorists involved in firing have been trapped and an operation has been started by the police and security forces.
Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Pralhad Joshi, Anurag Thakur, Bhupender Yadav, V. Muraleedharan and Arjun Ram Meghwal held a joint press conference at the Shastri Bhavan here on Thursday and condemned the 'unruly' and 'violent' behaviour of the opposition parties led by the Congress.
Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled states as well as where the party is in power as part of an alliance, including Tamil Nadu's M.K. Stalin (DMK), Maharashtra's Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena) and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren (JMM) will also be invited.
Besides, the All India Congress Committee, the Maharashtra and Mumbai verified Congress handles, that of Congress Legislative Party leader and Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat, Mumbai Congress President Bhai Jagtap, state party social media head Abhijeet Sapkal, and around 500 other leaders at various level have been blocked on Twitter.
Meanwhile, the wreckage of the state roadways bus that fell into a 500 metre deep gorge following the massive landslide was recovered this morning, rescuers said.
Senior Home Ministry officials on Thursday reviewed the status of the investigations in the two rape cases in Delhi with officials of the Delhi Police. The review was done on the instructions of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the officials said.
