Delhi’s Patiala House Court on Thursday sentenced Tariq Ahmed Dar, the mastermind behind the 2005 serial blasts in the Capital, to 10 years in prison. The two others accused in the case, Mohammed Hussain Fazili and Mohammed Rafiq Shah, were acquitted of all charges.
Dar was first arrested in Dhaka and deported in 2007. However, he was released after three months when the Delhi Police could not file a chargesheet against him for lack of evidence. Investigators filed a chargesheet against him and the two others in 2008, in which they mentioned Dar’s call details that reportedly revealed his links to the Lashkar-e-Taiba. The three were accused of waging a war against the state, conspiring, collecting arms, murder and attempt to murder.
On October 29, 2005, 62 people were killed and more than 100 injured in three bomb explosions in Delhi’s Kalkaji, Paharganj and Sarojini Nagar localities. The first explosion took place in Paharganj around 5.30 pm. The explosive was kept in a bag under the seat of a bus. Eighteen people were killed. The second blast took place near a bus in Govindpuri around 6 pm, which was followed by the third explosion at Sarojini Nagar five minutes later, killing 46 people.
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