Charges framed in Bhopal-Ujjain train blast case

Bhopal: A special NIA court here has framed charges against four persons for their role in the March 2017 Bhopal-Ujjain train blast that left eight people injured, paving the way for their trial.

The act they are accused of was, the court for National Investigation Agency (NIA) cases said, "dangerous for the security and sovereignty of the country".

Judge Girish Dixit framed charges against Mohammed Danish (27), Atif Mujaffar (22), Gaush Mohammed (56), all residents of Kanpur, and Sayyad Mir Hussain (18), a resident of Kannauj (Uttar Pradesh), yesterday.

Another accused, Saifullah, was killed in an alleged encounter with Uttar Pradesh police a day after the blast.

The accused, being "members of the (Middle-East) terror organisation Islamic State (IS)", carried out a terror activity which was "dangerous for the security and sovereignty of the country", the order framing the charges said.

The accused carried out a blast by planting explosives on a Bhopal-Ujjain train with the intention to kill passengers after hatching a criminal conspiracy, the order said.

The court framed charges against them under sections 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) and 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) of the Indian Penal Code, under the Explosive Substances Act for (causing explosion likely to endanger life or property), and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act and Railways Act.

Three of the accused were arrested from Pipariya in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh within hours of the blast after their images were captured on CCTV cameras. The fourth accused was arrested from Lucknow.

A blast on the Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train near Jabdi station in Shajapur district, about 80 km from Bhopal, had left eight people wounded on March 7, 2017.