Jaipur court convicts four persons in 2008 live bomb case

Jaipur bomb planting case convicts face sentencing after court conviction, evidence questioned, and previous acquittals.

A special court on Friday (April 4, 2025) convicted four persons on charges of planting a bomb, which was found unexploded, in the Walled City of Jaipur on May 13, 2008. Eight other serial blasts at different places in the city had killed 71 persons and left about 200 injured on the same day.

The live bomb detected near the Ramchandra temple in Chandpole Bazaar, for which the four persons were held guilty, was defused before it could explode. Special Judge Ramesh Kumar Joshi scheduled the hearing on the quantum of sentence for the convicts for April 8.

Also Read | BJP leaders hold dharnas; recite Hanuman Chalisa on Jaipur blasts anniversary

The four persons — Mohammed Saif, Saifur Rehman, Mohammed Sarwar Azmi, and Shahbaz Ahmed — were convicted under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Explosives Act in the case registered by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the Rajasthan Police.

Saif, Rehman and Azmi were earlier sentenced to death in 2019 for the eight serial blasts, but they were acquitted by the Rajasthan High Court in 2023 on their appeal. Shahbaz Ahmed, charged with sending an e-mail which claimed responsibility for the blasts on behalf of Indian Mujahideen, was earlier acquitted by the trial court for want of evidence in 2019.

While Saif and Rehman were lodged in the Jaipur Central Jail during the trial, Azmi and Shahbaz Ahmed were released on bail. The police took both of them into custody immediately after the court announced the conviction.

The Special Judge kept the verdict under Section 124-A (sedition) of IPC against the convicts in abeyance in view of the Supreme Court’s direction of 2022 staying all pending trials, appeals and proceedings with respect to the charge framed under the said Section. The conviction was pronounced under other provisions of law.