2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts case trial begins

Seventeen months after serial blasts killed 57 persons in the city, the trial against 62 persons accused in the case, has started in a special court inside the high security Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad.

Presiding over the trial that began on Thursday, designated Judge Bela Trivedi asked the Prosecution to initiate proceedings against the 62 arrested accused.

Special Public Prosecutor H M Druv made the opening remarks, which included the description of the terror conspiracy and its execution.

He listed the number of key witnesses and evidence the prosecution would put forth in the court during the trial. The court ordered that all the 20 FIRs registered in the case be consolidated into one while fixing January 1 as the next date of hearing in the case.

Of the total 95 suspects, 62 have been arrested while the others, including alleged masterminds Iqbal and Riyaz Bhatkal, Abdus Subhan alias Tauqueer and Amir Raza Khan, are absconding.

Those arrested have been charged with having links with the Indian Mujahideen (IM), the group, which had claimed the responsibility for the explosions on July 26, 2008.

According to police, IM is a faction of radicals of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).