Gujarat: Akshardham Temple terror attack accused arrested

In 2002, at least 30 persons were killed and 42 injured in a terrorist attack on the Akshardham temple complex of the Swaminarayan sect on Gandhinagar, capital of Gujarat.

Ahmedabad crime branch on Saturday arrested 2002 Akshardham Temple terror attack accused Ajmeri Abdul Rashid.

Ajmeri was in Riyadh and had allegedly been involved in the Akshardham terror attack conspiracy. He came to Ahmedabad in the early hours of Saturday and was immediately arrested by the Ahmedabad crime branch, as per Times of India report.

In 2002, at least 30 persons were killed and 42 injured in a terrorist attack on the Akshardham temple complex of the Swaminarayan sect in Gandhinagar, capital of Gujarat. Narendra Modi was then Chief Minister of the state.

The intense investigation began soon after terrorists attacked Akshardham on 24 September 2002.

In July 2006, the POTA court awarded death sentence to Adam Ajmeri, brother of Ajmeri Abdul Rashid, Shan Miya alias Chand Khan, who hails from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, and Mufti Abdul Qyyum Mansuri. While Mohammed Salim Shaikh from Ahmedabad, was sentenced to life imprisonment, Abdulmiyan Qadri got a 10-year term and Altaf Hussain five years. In 2008, some of the convicts went on appeal in the High Court. On 30 May 2010, the Gujarat High Court confirmed the death sentence awarded to three persons and prison terms to three.

Later in May 2014, a Supreme Court bench composed of Justices A K Patnaik and Venkata Gopala Gowda acquitted all six persons, including those awarded the death penalty. The Supreme Court slammed the Gujarat Police for the incompetence with which it investigated the case. The bench gave the decision holding that the prosecution failed to establish the guilt of the accused.

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