Ghaziabad: A court has given death sentence to Waliullah Khan an accused in blasts at Sankatmochan temple and Varanasi Cantonment Railway Station that killed 28 in 2006. The third bomb found in Godaulia did not explode, according to reports.Sixteen years after serial bomb blasts rocked the holy city, terrorist Waliullah was held guilty by a Ghaziabad court.

The blasts at the Sankat Mochan temple and the cantonment railway station on March 7th, 2006 had claimed at least 20 lives and left over 100 injured. District Sessions Judge Jitendra Kumar Sinha convicted Waliullah in two cases which were lodged under IPC sections of murder, attempt to murder and mutilation and under the Explosives Act, district government counsel Rajesh Sharma.

On 7th March 2006, the first blast took place at 6.15 pm inside the Sankat Mochak temple in the Lanka police station. After 15 minutes, a bomb exploded outside the first-class retiring room at Varanasi cantonment railway station. On the same day, a cooker bomb was also found near the railings of a railway crossing in DashmaVedh police station.

The Allahabad High Court had transferred the case to the Ghaziabad district court. In all three cases, 121 witnesses were produced before the court.In April 2006, the special task force, which was investigating the blasts, had claimed that he was linked to a terrorist outfit in Bangladesh Harkat-ul-jehad Al Islami and was the mastermind behind the blasts.