Ajmer blast case: Quantum of punishment likely on March 22

Three accused were convicted; Swami Aseemanand, others let off in blast that killed 3, injured 15

The special NIA court here is likely to pronounce the quantum of sentence in the Ajmer Dargah bomb blast case on March 22 after it continued to hear arguments today on the sentencing of the two convicts.

Defence counsel Jagdish Rana said the magistrate deferred the verdict and posted the matter for Wednesday.

The court had on March 8 convicted Bhavesh Patel, Devendra 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.

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

There were as many as 149 witnesses in thecaseand 451 documents were examined. The NIA filed three supplementary chargesheets in thecase.