Bangladeshi Among Two Sentenced To Death In 2005 Shramjivi Express Blast, Were Operatives Of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami

On Wednesday (3 January), a sessions court handed down death sentences to two men, one from Bangladesh and the other from West Bengal, for orchestrating the Shramjivi Express train blast in 2005, resulting in the death of at least 14 individuals and injuring 62 others as reported by The New Indian Express.

Convicted on 23 December, Hilal alias Hilaluddin, accused of planting the bomb, and Nafikul Vishwas, accused of aiding him, were each fined Rs 5 lakh. Additional sessions court judge Rajesh Kumar Rai presided over the sentencing.

Hilaluddin, a Bangladesh resident, and Nafikul Biswas from West Bengal had been held responsible for the blast, with the former planting the bomb on the train. They were operatives of the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami.

The sentencing, which occurred six years after the final hearings began, took place amidst tight security arrangements.

The explosion occurred on 28 July 2005, ripping apart a coach of the Patna-New Delhi train near the Jaunpur station in Uttar Pradesh at approximately 5:00 pm.

The prosecution asserted that RDX was placed in the coach's toilet, a substance previously used in various terrorist attacks in the country.

Witnesses recalled two individuals boarding the train at Jaunpur with a white suitcase, which was abandoned before they leapt from the moving train, moments before the explosion.

Two other individuals involved in the Shramjeevi train blast had received death sentences in 2016.