NEW DELHI, March 22 (Xinhua) -- A special court of India's anti-terror agency on Wednesday sentenced to life in jail two persons convicted for their role in the 2007 blast at the famous Sufi shrine in Ajmer in the western state of Rajasthan.
The court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) handed down the sentence to Devendra Gupta and Bhavesh Patel, both convicted for their roles in the blast case on March 8, along with another person, Sunil Joshi. While Joshi died during the trial, others involved in the case were acquitted.
The blast took place on Oct. 11, 2007, in the famous shrine of Khawaja Moinuddin Chisti, in which three pilgrims were killed and more than 15 others injured. Initially local police carried out the probe, but it was later transferred to NIA in 2011.
The NIA had accused Hindu holy man Aseemanand of masterminding the blast, but the court freed him, along with six other accused in the case due to lack of evidence.
Aseemanand is also an accused in the 2007 Samjhauta Express blasts case and in the Hyderabad Mecca Masjid blast case. While he was granted bail in the first case by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in August 2014, trial in the Mecca Masjid case began two months ago.
There were as many as 149 witnesses in the case and 451 documents were examined during the trial.
