On Saturday evening, July 26, 2008, just after 6:40 PM, a bicycle bomb exploded at a crowded bazaar in Ahmedabad district, in Gujarat.
This was one of a series of 17 serial bomb blasts that took place within 70 minutes in various crowded places in Ahmedabad and killed a total of 56 civilians and injured 200 others.
The bomb, which contained ammonium nitrate, ball bearings, a chemical powder, gelatin, plastic bags, cloth rags and a six volt Chinese-made battery attached to a timer device and stored inside a carton, was planted on an old bicycle.
Even though the blast was of low intensity, it was enough to shatter the windowpanes of the Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service buses in the vicinity.
A then-lesser known group called Indian Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the Ahmedabad bombing attacks with a 14 page email manifesto sent to the media minutes before the first bomb blast.
According to the Indian Mujahideen, the bombings were carried out to avenge the 2002 anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat.
On August 14 of that year, a suspected activist of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), Mohammad Sajid Mansori, was arrested by police in Bharuch while on August 16, the leader of the SIMI movement, Abul Bashar Qasmi, admitted to his and to several other SIMI members’ involvement in connection with the serial bomb blasts after he was arrested by police in Uttar Pradesh.
Following the police investigation, authorities speculated that the Indian Mujahideen was just a front name for the SIMI (Students' Islamic Movement of India) group.
Controversy erupts in Court
Controversy arose in the court case of the 26 accused as the state was alleged to have suppressed the legal rights of the accused. On 23 October lawyers of the accused walked out in protest against the stand taken by the Metropolitan Magistrate.
The lawyers wanted to meet the accused alone, however, they had moved an application stating that police did not allow them to meet their clients alone and that the Court should direct the police not to remain present while they were talking to the accused.
The Metropolitan Magistrate countered that it was not possible as police had to be with the accused. He is said to have hinted at collusion between the lawyers and the accused, causing a walk out by the accused's lawyers.
The next day, in two different cases, the designated Metropolitan Court remanded all the 26 accused to police custody till 31 October.
As per the legal rules police have to file a chargesheet in any case before 90 days of the first arrest of the case.
However, on 11 November, about three and half months after blasts and the late July arrest, the Gujarat police filed a chargesheet, pertaining to the city civil hospital blast and L G hospital blast case, in a court naming 26 people, all with alleged linked to SIMI, as accused in the case.
A 2,000-page chargesheet was filed in the court of the Metropolitan Magistrate, G M Patel. The accused included SIMI activists Mufti Abu Basher, Safdar Nagori and Sajid Mansuri.
The chargesheet also listed the names of 50 absconders, and that police had so far examined 511 potential witnesses.
Sentencing
On February 18 this year, a court sentenced 38 people to death for their role in the blasts.
The court in Ahmedabad also sentenced 11 other convicts to life in prison until death. The accused can challenge their sentences in a higher court.
In the Ahmedabad blasts, 78 people had faced trial - one of the accused, Ayaz Saiyed, later helped investigating agencies. The remaining 28 were acquitted.
The prosecution examined 1,163 witnesses over the course of the trial, according to The Indian Express.
Special Judge AR Patel also ordered to give compensation of 100,000 rupees (£982; $1,337) each to families of the victims.
In 2013, authorities had said they foiled an attempt by some of the accused to tunnel their way out of jail.
