AN Indian court sentenced 38 people to death today over a string of bomb blasts in 2008 that killed dozens in the western city of Ahmedabad.

On February 8, it convicted 49 people over the coordinated attacks that killed 56, launching shrapnel through buses, markets and other public places in the commercial hub in Gujarat.

“Special judge A.R. Patel awarded the death sentence to 38 out of the 49 convicted,” said special public prosecutor Amit Patel.

“Eleven of the convicted are sentenced to life imprisonment till death.”

The Indian Mujahideen group claimed responsibility, saying that the act is revenge for the religious riots in the state in 2002 that left about 1,000 people dead.

Almost 80 people were charged for the attacks in Ahmedabad, but 28 were acquitted, according to the prosecutor.

He said the convicted are all found guilty of murder and criminal conspiracy.

The marathon trial lasted nearly a decade – thanks to India’s labyrinthine legal system – with more than 1,100 witnesses called to testify.

It was dragged out by procedural delays, including a legal battle by four of the accused to retract confessions.

Police also foiled a 2013 attempt by more than a dozen of the defendants to tunnel their way out of jail using food plates as digging tools.

All 77 accused have been held in custody for years, with the exception of one who was bailed after a schizophrenia diagnosis.

Ahmedabad was the centre of deadly religious riots in 2002 that saw at least 1,000 people – mostly Muslims – hacked, shot and burned to death.

The violence was prompted by the death of 59 Hindus in a train fire – a case in which 31 Muslims were convicted for criminal conspiracy and murder.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was then head of the state government and has been dogged by accusations of turning a blind eye to the violence.

India was rocked by several lethal bomb attacks in 2008, claimed by the Indian Mujahideen – with dozens killed in New Delhi and northern tourist city of Jaipur.

In November the same year, 166 people were killed by gunmen armed with explosive devices, in a coordinated assault on hotels and other high-profile targets in Mumbai that was blamed on Pakistan-based militants. – AFP, February 18, 2022.