Ahmedabad serial blast case trial to restart from January 21

AHMEDABAD: A special court formed to hear the city serial blast case of 2008 is likely to resume trial from Janaury 21 after the appointment of a new judge.

The Gujarat High Court has appointed special trial court Judge P C Rawal after special court Judge P B Desai sought transfer when some accused had objected to the conduct of the trial by the latter.

The accused had objected to hearing of the case before Desai stating that Special Public Prosecutor of the case H M Dhruv and the judge are relatives, which could lead to adverse results.

So far, the court has examined around 349 witnesses in connection with the case.

Twenty one serial blasts had rocked Ahmedabad city on July 26, 2008, in which 56 people were killed and several injured.

More than 70 accused in the case are in Sabarmati Central Jail here.

Twenty four of the 75 blast case accused had tried to escape from Sabarmati Central Jail by digging a 218-feet long tunnel in 2012.

The escape plan came to light on February 10, 2012, when jail authorities stumbled upon the tunnel inside jail barrack number four called 'Chhota Chakkar'.

The case related to the jail escape bid is also being tried in a special court at present.

After their jail escape bid, the accused are being kept separate from each other in the new jail building.