Ahmedabad, Feb 18 (Agency) A special court here on Friday sentenced 38 of the 49 accused to death and 11 to life imprisonment in connection with the July 26, 2008 serial blasts in Ahmedabad. On February 8, Special Judge A R Patel had convicted 49 of the total 78 accused and acquitted 28 others. One accused died during the trial. The court also on Friday imposed a fine of Rs 2.85 lakh each on 48 of the 49 convicted accused. The court made a provision of Rs 1 lakh compensation each to the families of all the 56 killed in the incident, Rs 50,000 each for victims with serious injuries and Rs 25,000 to victims with mild injuries out of the total 240 injured.
The blasts on July 26, 2008 killed 56 people and left over 240 people injured. The blasts happened at 23 crowded places in Ahmedabad including the Civil Hospital and LG Hospital between 6.30 pm and 8.45 pm. After this, between July 28 and 31, 29 bombs – similar to those used in Ahmedabad – were recovered from Surat city. After the Gujarat Police investigation, the first arrests of 11 people were made on August 15, 2008. Others were arrested later. During investigation, it was found that the Pakistani intelligence agency, the Indian Mujahideen and a faction of radicals of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) were behind the blasts. It was alleged that terrorists planned the blasts to avenge the 2002 riots in Gujarat.