Rajasthan HC Acquits All Accused In 2008 Serial Jaipur Blasts Case, Pulls Up Investigating Agencies

On May 13, 2008 a series of bombs went off one after another at several places in Jaipur killing 71people and injuring 185.

Rajasthan HC acquits all accused in 2008 serial Jaipur blasts case ( Image Source :ANI )

Four men who were given death sentence by a lower court for the 2008 serial Jaipur blasts that killed 71 people were acquitted by the Rajasthan High Court on Wednesday. A fifth accused in the case was also acquitted by the court.

While passing the order, the court slammed the investigating agencies for their "shoddy investigation" into the case and directed the director general of police of Rajasthan to take action against the officers involved in the investigation, reported PTI, citing  advocate S S Ali, the counsel for the accused.

According to Ali, the court found the entire theory presented by the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), which investigated the case, wrong.

The chief secretary has been ordered to monitor the case by the high court.

"The ATS failed to prove the travel plan of the accused that they had travelled from Delhi to Jaipur in a bus on May 13, had lunch at a restaurant, purchased cycles, planted bombs and returned the same day to Delhi in Shatabdi express. The ATS could not produce bus tickets," said Ali, as reported by PTI.

"The pellets which the agency said that the accused had purchased from a shop outside Jama masjid in Delhi to plant in the bomb did not match with the pellets found in the dead bodies. The pellets did not match in the FSL report," he further said.

In December 2019, a special court gave the death sentence to four men --Mohammad Saif, Mohammad Salman, Saifur and Mohammad Sarvar Azmi -- and acquitted another accused, Shahbaz Hussain in the serial Jaipur blasts case

On May 13, 2008 a series of bombs went off one after another at Manak Chawk Khanda, Badi Chaupad, Chandpole Gate, Tripolia Gate, Chhoti Chaupad, Johri Bazar and Sanganeri Gate in Jaipur. The explosions that took place in the evening claimed 71 lives and injured 185.