Varanasi blast: Six accused chargesheeted

A chargesheet has been filed in a local court against six accused in the March 7 blast at the Sankatmochan temple in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.

The chargesheet was filed on Tuesday by police against the blast mastermind Waliullah -- presently in judicial custody -- Mustaqim, Bashir, Zakaria and Mohd Shamim, all of whom were still at large.

The sixth accused in the case -- Mohammad Zubair -- was killed by police on the outskirts of Lucknow on March 8. Waliullah was arrested from Gosaiganj area of Uttar Pradesh capital on April 4.

The chargesheet was filed in two cases -- Sankatmochan blast and recovery of pressure cooker explosive in Dwashashamedh area -- under sections 302, 307, 324, 326 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 3, 4 and 5

of Explosives Substances Act.

The police also submitted to the court a list of 45 and 18 witnesses in the Sankatmochan blast and pressure cooker explosive recovery case respectively. The investigations in the other case pertaining to blast at the Varanasi railway station were underway.

As many as 20 people were killed and over 50 wounded in the two blasts that rocked the 16th century temple and the Varanasi railway station within a span of 15 minutes on March 7.