Indian court acquits main accused in shrine blast case

By Shuriah Niazi

NEW DELHI, India

A special court in India’s Rajasthan state has acquitted six accused in the deadly bomb attack on the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinudding Chisti in 2007.

The main accused right-wing activist Swami Aseemanand was among those acquitted.

Aseemanand was an accused in the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast case as well that had left at least 68 people dead. He was also an accused in the Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad city that left 14 people dead.

The special National Investigative Agency court in Jaipur city, however, let him walk free and found three others guilty in the case.

Judge Dinesh Gupta convicted Devendra Gupta, Bhavesh Patel and Sunil Joshi under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including the Explosive Substances Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The court will announce the sentencing in the case on March 16.

The shrine blast took place during the month of Ramadan and left three people dead and 15 others injured.

Police had initially blamed Muslim extremist groups for the blast, but later on the focus shifted to Hindu extremist groups following a confession made by the main accused.