Court defers verdict on Shramjeevi Express train blast accused

A court in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, today deferred its verdict on the second accused in the 2005 Shramjeevi Express train blast case and said the matter will be taken up after 20 August.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Buddhiram Yadav had on 30 July awarded death penalty to HuJI operative Alamgeer alias Rony, a Bangladeshi national, and had ruled that the verdict on another accused, Ubed-ur-Rehman alias Babu, would be pronounced on 2 August.

The court ruled that the matter would be taken up after 20 August as two more accused -- Nafeequl Biswas and Sohag alias Hilal -- are being brought here for trial from Hyderabad jail where they have been lodged in connection with another case.

Twelve persons were killed and many others injured when an explosion ripped apart a coach of New Delhi-bound Shramjeevi Express from Patna near Jaunpur station in Uttar Pradesh on 28 July 2005.

The explosion was later found to have been caused by RDX stored in the toilet of the coach.

According to eyewitnesses, two men had boarded the train at Jaunpur with a white suitcase, but shortly afterwards jumped out of the moving train without it and ran away. A few minutes later, the explosion shook the carriage.

Along with Rony, Ubed-ur-Rehman, Nafeequl Biswas, and Sohag alias Hilal -- all Bangladeshi nationals with links to terror outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI) -- were subsequently arrested by the police.

Another accused, Sharif, is on the run, while two more accused, Ghulam Razdani alias Yahya and Sayeed, died during the trial period.

-PTI