Changing dynamics of threat
All these put a big question mark on the security of the country's eastern frontier.
In a major development to the 2007 Ajmer Dargah blast case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) special court on Wednesday sentenced Devendra Gupta and Bhavesh Patel, the two accused in the case, to life imprisonment.
A NIA court had on March 8 acquitted Swami Aseemanand and had convicted Devendra Gupta, Bhavesh Gupta and Sunil Joshi (dead). Senior Rashtriya Swaymsevak Sangh (RSS) member Indresh Kumar had also been acquitted.
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).
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The case was handed over to ATS Rajasthan and was later transferred to the NIA, which re-registered the case at the NIA police station in New Delhi on April 6, 2011.
There were as many as 149 witnesses in the case and 451 documents were examined, and the NIA filed three supplementary chargesheets in the case.
The incident took place on October 11, 2007 during the month of Ramazan and targeted the Khwaja Chishti shrine, killing three pilgrims and injuring 15.
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