Ghaziabad: A Ghaziabad court on Monday sentenced to death the mastermind of the 2006 Varanasi serial blasts Waliullah Khan. The verdict came after 16 years of the explosions in which nearly 18 people were killed and 100 injured.
Also Read : Violence in Kanpur: Stone pelting after Friday namaz on police in Muslim dominated area
In the aftermath of the incident, Khan was arrested from the Gosainganj area in Lucknow on April 5, 2006. On June 4 this year, Khan was held guilty in two cases related to two serial bomb blasts in Varanasi. On March 7, 2006, the first blast took place at 6.15pm inside the Sankat Mochan temple and the second exploded outside the first-class retiring room at Varanasi Cantonment Railway Station 15 minutes later.
A third bomb found in Gudaulia residential locality was defused, sources said, adding that a fourth bomb was recovered at Varanasi’s famous Ganga Ghat. As the lawyers in Varanasi refused fight Khan’s case, the case was shifted to the court of Ghaziabad district and sessions judge Jitendra Kumar Sinha. He convicted Khan in two cases which were lodged under various sessions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Also Read : Gyanvapi Masjid case: Next hearing on July 4, Now Hindu side will present its point
Sources in the district court said that Waliullah had been acquitted in one case due to inadequate evidence.In all three cases, 121 witnesses were produced before the court. In April 2006, a special task force, which was investigating the blasts, had claimed that Khan was connected to a terrorist outfit Harkat-ul-jehad Al Islami (HuJI) and was the mastermind behind the blasts.
