The five accused are also facing trial in 2013 Patna blasts, which killed six people and left 80 injured.
A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court Friday sentenced five Indian Mujahideen militants to life imprisonment in the 2013 Bodh Gaya bomb blasts case, reported PTI.
The five accused – Imtiyaz Ansari, Haider Ali, Mujib Ullah, Omair Siddiqui and Azharuddin Qureishi – were convicted on 25 May under sections of the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activity (Prevention) Act and Explosives Act. Special NIA judge Manoj Kumar Sinha awarded the punishment to the convicts in Patna.
Another accused, a juvenile, was held guilty by a juvenile court in October last year and sent to remand home for three years.
The case relates to 2013, when a series of ten bomb blasts rocked the complex of Bodh Gaya temple on 7 July leaving no casualties but injuring several people including two Buddhist monks. The blasts caused no damage to the Bodhi tree, which is said to be the one under which Buddha attained enlightenment.
A day after the incident, the then home minister Sushil Shinde had said that 13 bombs were planted inside the Mahabodhi temple complex in Bodh Gaya out of which ten had exploded, injuring two people – Dorji and Bala Sanga.
The temple, which is a UNESCO world heritage site, is the holiest pilgrimage centre for Buddhists and is visited by millions of pilgrims around the year.
The six convicts are also facing trial in the Patna blasts case of 2013 where a series of bomb blasts went off hours before BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s election rally in the state capital leaving 6 dead and over 80 injured. The bombs went off at the Patna Junction railway station and Gandhi Maidan, where Modi was supposed to hold his ‘Hunkar’ rally. – Inputs from PTI