NIA Court Sentences 6 To Imprisonment In 2016 Bihar Railway Track IED Planting Case

New Delhi: The NIA Special Court in Patna, on Saturday sentenced six accused to imprisonment and fine under various penal sections in a 2016 case relating to the planting of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) on the railway track near Ghorasahan railway station in Bihar .

The accused were involved in planting a Pressure Cooker IED on the railway track on the night of September 30th, in a bid to blast a passenger train coming from Narkatiaganj, but the IED was spotted by local people and successfully defused before it could explode.

During the investigation, the local police established the involvement of accused Umashankar Raut alias Umashankar Patel alias Raju Patel, Gajendra Sharma alias Gajendra Thakur, Rakesh Kumar Yadav alias Rakesh, Mukesh Kumar Yadav alias Mukesh, Motilal Paswan alias Moti, and Ranjay Kumar Sah alias Ranjay.

While three of the accused were arrested initially by the local police, two accused were nabbed later by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on different occasions, which took over the probe in January 2017. The sixth accused had surrendered in February 2017. The chargesheet against all accused was filed by the NIA in July 2017.

On September 24, 2024, the NIA Court had held the accused guilty. On Saturday, the court announced the quantum of the sentences against them under relevant sections of IPC, UA(P) Act, Explosive Substances Act and Railway Act.

The sentences pronounced by the court range from 5 to 12 years of imprisonment along with a fine, and will run concurrently, with an extension of 3 months imprisonment in case of the non-payment of the fine.