In 2008, Jaipur was rocked by a series of blasts, as bombs went off one after another in various areas of the pink city, that left 71 people dead and 185 injured. The Rajasthan high court on Wednesday acquitted four people accused for the serial blasts case. The court slammed the investigating agencies over their “shoddy investigation” in the case linked to terror outfit Indian Mujahedeen (IM).
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A division bench of justices Pankaj Bhandari and Sameer Jain acquitted the four accused — Mohammad Saif (32), Mohammad Sarvar (36), Saif-Ur-Rahman (36), and Salman (34) — who were given capital punishment by a trial court, whose order was challenged in the high court, said Syed Saadat Ali, the counsel for petitioners. One of the accused is a minor. The court has accepted that he was 16 years old at the time of the incident.
The court acquitted the accused by saying that there is no proof against the accused. The court has ordered DGP Rajasthan to take action against Rajendra Singh Nayan, Jai Singh and retired IPS officer Mahendra Chaudhary, who were the investigating officers of the entire case.
On May 13, 2008, mine ammonium nitrate bombs strapped to bicycles went off within a span of 25 minutes in the evening at the crowded areas of Jaipur. One live bomb was recovered near Ramchandra Temple which was defused by a bomb disposal squad.
A total of 13 people were made accused in this case by the police. Three accused are still absconding, while two are lodged in jails of Hyderabad and Delhi. The remaining two criminals have been killed in the Batla House encounter in Delhi. The four accused were lodged in Jaipur jail and were sentenced to death by the lower court.
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