After 12 long years, the New Delhi Patiala House court gave its long pending judgement in 2005 Delhi serial blasts case that claimed 60 lives and injured about 100 people. The court has sentenced the accused Tariq Ahmed Dar with a jail term of 10 years and has acquitted Mohammed Rafiq Shah and Mohammed Hussain Fazili of all charges.
On 29th October 2005, three explosions throttled the entire national capital in which 62 people lost their lives while a hundred others sustained injuries. The blasts occurred only two days before that year’s Diwali. The bombs were placed and triggered in two markets in central and south Delhi area and another on a bus in the Govindpuri area in South Delhi.
The first blast occurred at the main market in Paharganj near the New Delhi Railway Station at around 5:38 pm. The second and third blast took place near a bus in Govindpuri area at 6:00 pm in the southern part of the Delhi and in South Delhi’s busy Sarojini Nagar market at 6:05 pm respectively.
The Delhi Police had blamed the terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba for the serial blasts in Paharganj, Sarojini Nagar and Govindpuri, and arrested a Kashmiri, Tariq Ahmed Dar, in connection with the case. Dar remains in prison as he faces trial in the case while in a statement made to the security agencies, Asadullah, who was arrested with Yasin Bhatkal, had reportedly claimed that although he was not involved in the Delhi blasts, some associates from Azamgarh told him that they had carried out the operation.
However, top Home Ministry officials had cautioned that Asadullah and Bhatkal may be trying to mislead the investigators. They said that they are awaiting a preliminary probe by the Intelligence Bureau and the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
The then President A P J Abdul Kalam had condemned the blasts and sent condolences to the bereaved and other victims.
