(TibetanReview.net, Jun03, 2018) – A special NIA (National Investigation Agency) court in Bihar’s capital Patna has on Jun 1 sentenced all the five Indian Mujahideen militants, convicted for the Jul 7, 2013 Bodh Gaya serial blasts, to life imprisonment. The five were earlier convicted by the court on May 25.
The court had found all the five accused — Imtiyaz Ansari, Haider Ali, Mujib Ullah, Omair Siddiqui and Azharuddin Qureishi — guilty under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activity (Prevention) Act and the Explosives Act.
A sixth accused – Taufiq Ahmed – being less than 18 at the time of the attack, was sentenced to three years in remand home by a juvenile court last year, which found him guilty of involvement in the case.
While no one had died in the series of explosions in the 2013 incident, five people, including two Buddhist monks, were injured. A series of 10 bombs had exploded in and around the Mahabodhi Temple complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, within a span of 30 minutes beginning 5:30 am. Three other devices were defused by bomb-disposal squads at a number of locations in Gaya.
The blasts were stated to have been carried out to avenge alleged atrocities on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar by the Buddhist majority in that country.
Following the blast, security was strengthened at major Buddhist monasteries throughout India, including at the Tsuglakhang, the main Buddhist temple at Dharamshala located just across the residence of Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
