Handiwork of doctors, professors: Why the Ahmedabad blasts fall under rarest of rare category

New Delhi, Feb 21: While handing out death sentences to 38 terrorists in the Ahmedabad serial blasts case, the court observed that this case falls under the rarest of rare categories.

Death is the only option for such persons carrying out such acts, the court said while also adding that this sentence is being awarded for the sake of peace and safety of the country and its people.

There is no jail in this country where these persons can be lodged forever. These persons are highly skilled, educated and some of them are doctors, professors and computer experts the court said. They have committed crimes in other states and the accused are such persons that to get information out of them to reach at the root of the crime is a highly difficult job, the court noted.

The court also said that the accused persons had made prior plans to escape even before committing the crime. They had also decided on what kind of information to share and what to hide during the investigation, if they were caught, the court added. They had also planned on to handle the court proceedings, the court observed.

This case falls under the rarest of rare categories and death will be a reasonable sentence, the judge said. The court also added that allowing these persons to remain in society is like releasing a man eating leopard in public.

On February 8 the special court had held 49 people guilty for the blast in which 56 people were killed and over 200 injured. 28 persons had been acquitted as the court did not find evidence against them.

The blast was the handiwork of the Indian Mujahideen which had only a year before the blast announced its arrival in Uttar Pradesh following a blast at a court. The Indian Mujahideen comprised members of the Students Islamic Movement of India. It was decided to launch the IM as the SIMI had been banned under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

The Indian Mujahideen had created havoc in the years between 2008 to 2010. One of the early unearthing of the Indian Mujahideen took place in 2008 following the Ahmedabad serial blasts.

The explosions were caused at public premises and crowded places with intention to cause terror among public at large. A total of 23 blasts took place in the city between 1830hrs to 1945hrs.

Thereafter, Surat police recovered 29 bombs from various parts of the city between 28 July and 31 July 2008. The materials used in the blasts were similar to those used in Ahmedabad, except that the integrated circuits were used in the preparation of the Surat bombs. Investigations revealed that faulty circuits and detonators had rendered the bombs ineffective and hence had not exploded.

The challenge before Gujarat Police to detect the case was enormous as numerous incidents in recent past of serial blasts bearing signature of terrorist group 'Indian Mujahideen' were undetected in the country, including blasts in Bengaluru, Jaipur, Mumbai, Varanasi, etc.