Death sentence to Bangladeshi national in Shramjeevi blast case

JAUNPUR: A Bangladeshi national, having links with Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI) terror outfit, was today awarded death sentence by a local court here for the 2005 Shramjeevi Express train blast which had killed 12 people and injured scores others.

Ubed-ur-Rehman alias Babu is the second accused who has been awarded death sentence in the case.

Additional Sessions Judge Buddhiram Yadav, who had yesterday held Rehman guilty, also slapped a fine of Rs 10.3 lakh on him.

Earlier, another Bangladeshi national and HuJI operative Alamgeer alias Rony was awarded death sentence and penalty of Rs 7 lakh by the court.

Along with Rony and Rehman, two other Bangladeshis-- Nafeequl Vishwas and Sohag alias Hilal-- were also held responsible for the blast.

Vishwas and Hilal are lodged in Hyderabad jail in connection with another case, while two more accused, Ghulam Razdani alias Yahya and Sayeed, died during the pendency of the case.

Twelve people were killed and scores of others injured when an explosion ripped apart a coach of Shramjeevi Express near Jaunpur railway station in Uttar Pradesh on July 28, 2005.

The bomb, using military grade explosive RDX, had been kept in the compartment's toilet. RDX has been used in several terrorist attacks on Indian targets, including the Ayodhya train bombing in June 2000.

Eyewitnesses had reported that two young men had boarded the train at Jaunpur railway station with a white suitcase. Shortly afterwards, both of them leapt out of the moving train and fled without their suitcase. A few minutes later, the explosion shook the coach.