A court in Barabanki on Saturday acquitted former Aligarh Muslim University scholar Gulzar Ahmed Wani in the Sabarmati Express blast case. After spending 16 years in jail, the court acquitted Wani and Mobin due to lack of evidence.
The Delhi police had arrested the AMU scholar in 2001 allegedly with explosives and incriminating materials. Wani was a resident of Peeparkari area of Srinagar and has spent 16 years lodged in a jail in
Lucknow. Additional sessions Judge MA Khan acquitted both the accused of all the charges since the prosecution could not establish any of the charges levelled against them.
The blast was carried out on the eve of Independence Day when the train was on its way from Muzaffarpur to Ahmedabad. Nine lives were lost in the blast. Wani was suspected to be a Hizbul Mujahideen operative when he was apprehended.