2007 Ajmer blast case: Devendra Gupta & Bhavesh Patel sentenced to life imprisonment

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Special Court on Wednesday sentenced two convicts — Devendra Gupta and Bhavesh Patel — to life imprisonment in connection with 2007 Ajmer dargah blast case.

The court had on March 8 convicted Patel, Gupta and Sunil Joshi, and acquitted others including Swami Aseemanand. Joshi has already died.

The conviction was made under Sections 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of IPC, 3 / 4 of Explosive Substances Act and Sections 16 and 18 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

The blast on October 11, 2007 in the Dargah of Khawaja Moinuddin Chisti at the time of Roza Iftaar had left three pilgrims dead and 15 injured.

The case was handed over to the Rajasthan ATS and was later transferred to the National Investigation Agency which re-registered the case with the NIA police station in New Delhi on 6 April 2011.

There were as many as 149 witnesses in the case and 451 documents were examined. The NIA filed three supplementary chargesheets in the case.