Ahmedabad court acquits two in 2006 Kalupur bomb blast case

A local court here today acquitted two persons including a police official for want of evidence in the 2006 Kalupur bomb blast case.

Additional Sessions Judge B S Upadhyay acquitted Mohammad Iliyas Abdul Memon, a resident of Paldi in Ahmedabad, and Kamlesh Bhagora, a constable with Government Railway Police.

On February 19, 2006, a blast took place at the Ahmedabad railway station, in which at least 10 persons were injured and public property worth Rs 60,000 was destroyed. The bomb had been originally placed on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Karnavati Express, probe revealed.

The only evidence against Mohammad Iliyas was that he had talked to Aslam Kashmiri, who is wanted in a case relating to LeT sleeper cells in Gujarat. But police could neither recover a cell phone from Iliyas' possession nor obtain Call Data Records (CDRs) regarding his conversation with Kashmiri.

Bhagora had asked a porter to attend to an unclaimed bag kept in the AC compartment of the train. The coolie kept the bag near a tea stall between platform 2 and 3, and it exploded shortly.

Bhagora was arraigned as an accused, but he too was acquitted for lack of evidence. The judge also highlighted poor investigation by the police in the case.