Rajasthan bus blast case: 1 gets death, 6 to be in jail for life

The district and sessions court in Bandikui found six of the eight accused guilty of murder, damage to public property and violation of Explosives Act and one of them of conspiracy. Abdul Hamid, a resident of Ferozabad in Uttar Pradesh, was sentenced to death and an indemnity of Rs 1 lakh was slapped on him. Six others — Javed Khan (Srinagar), Abdul Ghani (Jammu), Latif Ahmed (Srinagar), Mohammad Ali Bhatt, Mirza Nisar Hussain and Rahish Baig from Agra — were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Additional district and sessions judge Urmila Verma delivered the judgment on Monday amidst heavy security deployment on the court premises. Four supporters of the accused, who came from Jammu and Kashmir, were detained by the police hours before the decision was pronounced in court.

Public prosecutor Vijay Kumar Tiwari told the court that the incident had taken place on May 22, 1996, when a bomb blast in a bus near Samleti village in Dausa on the Jaipur-Agra highway killed 14 people and injured 37 others. The blast followed the Lajpat Nagar bomb blast.

The chargesheet stated that the accused were associated with the J&K Liberation Front and some of them were also involved in the Sawai Man Singh Stadium blast.

The case was investigated by the Crime Investigation Department (Crime Branch).