The sessions court also imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh each on the convicts.

Shramjeevi Express Train Blast: Two men, including one from Bangladesh, were sentenced to death by a sessions court on Wednesday for carrying out the Shramjivi Express train blast on 28 July 2005 that left at least 14 people dead and 62 injured. The sessions court also imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh each on the convicts who were pronounced guilty on December 23.

“The court of additional sessions court judge Rajesh Kumar Rai awarded death sentences to Hilal alias Hilaluddin and Nafikul Vishwas convicted in the Shramjivi train blast case,” District government counsel Satish Pandey said.

While Hilaluddin is a native of Bangladesh, Vishwas is from West Bengal.

Local administration had made tight security arrangements and the convicts were taken to jail in a police vehicle after the court announced the quantum of punishment.

The explosion had ripped apart a coach of the Patna-New Delhi train near the Jaunpur station in Uttar Pradesh at around 5.00 pm on July 28, 2005. The Shramjeevi Express train was travelling between Jaunpur and Delhi when an explosion tore through one of the carriages. The train’s crew was able to halt the engine quickly, thus preventing the train from derailing following the blast. As other passengers and locals aided those wounded by the blast, emergency services fought to extinguish the burning carriage.

According to the prosecution, RDX was kept in the toilet of the coach. RDX has been used in many terrorist attacks in the country, including the Ayodhya train bombing of June 2000.

Witnesses had reported that two young men had boarded the train at Jaunpur with a white suitcase. Shortly afterwards, both leapt out of the moving train without their suitcase and the explosion occurred a few minutes later.

(With PTI inputs)