Ajmer dargah blast: Devendra Gupta and Bhavesh Patel sentenced to life imprisonment

(FILES) This file photo taken on October 11, 2007 shows Indian security personnel and bystanders gathering around scattered debris at the entrance to the Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Dargah shrine in Ajmer after a bomb blast. An Indian court on March 8, 2017 handed down a rare guilty verdict against three Hindu radicals over a shrine bombing, but cleared the alleged mastermind of the attack initially blamed on Islamist groups. Devendra Gupta and Bhavesh Patel were convicted in a special court in Rajasthan over their roles in the 2007 bombing of the shrine in Ajmer, one of the holiest sites of Islam in India. / AFP PHOTO / -

New Delhi: A Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Wednesday announced the quantum of sentence for the two convicts Devendra Gupta and Bhavesh Patel in the 2007 Ajmer dargah blast case. After being held guilty, the court ordered the duo to undergo life imprisonment. The NIA court had earlier on March 8 convicted three people in the case, while acquitting seven others including RSS worker Swami Aseemanand giving them the benefit of doubt. Besides Gupta and Patel, those convicted were Sunil Joshi, who had figured in other cases as well. Joshi died in June 2014. Gupta and Patel were convicted under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for criminal conspiracy and under Sections of the Explosive Substances Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The blast on October 11, 2007 in the dargah of Khawaja Moinuddin Chisti at the time of Roza Iftaar had left three pilgrims dead and 15 others injured.