A sessions court in Jaunpur (Uttar Pradesh) has sentenced to death to two individuals, including one from Bangladesh, for their involvement in the 2005 Shramjeevi Express train blast, resulting in at least 14 fatalities and 62 injuries.
In 2016, two other convicts received the death penalty in connection to the same case, and their appeals are currently pending in the high court. Additionally, two accused were killed in a police encounter, and one remains at large.
District Government Counsel Satish Pandey said, “The court of additional sessions court judge Rajesh Kumar Rai awarded death sentences to Hilal alias Hilaluddin and Nafikul Vishwas convicted in the Shramjeevi train blast case.”
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on each of the guilty parties.
Hilaluddin hails from Bangladesh, while Vishwas is a native of West Bengal. Legal proceedings in the case commenced in 2016 after the duo was transferred from Cherrapalli Jail in Andhra Pradesh to Jaunpur Jail.
Tight security measures were implemented on the court premises during Wednesday’s proceedings. The Shramjeevi Express blast occurred near Jaunpur station in Uttar Pradesh on July 28, 2005, causing significant casualties.
As per the prosecution, RDX was placed in the coach’s toilet, a substance utilized in several terrorist incidents, including the Ayodhya train bombing in June 2000. Witnesses reported two young men boarding the train at Jaunpur with a white suitcase. Shortly after their departure without the suitcase, an explosion transpired in the moving train.
The Government Railway Police (GRP) registered a case against seven individuals involved in the bombing, including Alamgir alias Rony, Obaidur Rahman, Hilaluddin alias Hilal, Nafikul Vishwas, Ghulam Pachdani Yahiya, Kanchan alias Sharif, and Doctor Saeed, who remains at large. Ghulam Pachdani and Kanchan were killed in a police encounter, while the remaining four were arrested.
In 2016, Alamgir and Obaidur Rahman received death sentences, and they have since appealed the decision in the high court.
