Ahmedabad blasts: BJP draws SP link day after death sentences, jail terms handed out

A day after a court handed out death sentences and life terms to those involved in the 2008 Ahmedabad blast case, the Bharatiya Janata Party sought to draw a link between one of the convicts, and the Samajwadi Party.

Addressing a press conference on February 19, Union minister Anurag Thakur said that the father of one of the convicts is an SP leader. Thakur also brandished photographs of the SP leader purportedly meeting then-Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

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Thakur asked, "Was this Samajwadi Party leader, whose son was involved in the Ahmedabad blasts, called for a biryani meal by then-CM Akhilesh Yadav?"

On February 18, a special court announced the death sentence for 38 convicts, and condemned 11 to life in prison. The 49 accused had been found guilty, and 38 others acquitted, on February 8 by a special court set up for speedy trial.

The case pertained to the explosion of over 20 bombs within an hour in Gujarat's Ahmedabad on July 26, 2008. At least 56 people were killed, and over 200 injured in the blasts.