2013 Patna bombings
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On 27 October 2013, a series of bomb blasts rocked the
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n city of
Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...
,
Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...
at a massive election rally for
BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...
Prime Ministerial candidate and current Prime Minister
Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...
. Of the estimated 300,000 participants at the "Hunkar" rally, six people were killed and 85 others were injured in eight bomb blasts. No one initially claimed responsibility for the bombings. In 2021, terrorists from the
Indian Mujahideen Indian Mujahideen (IM) is an Islamic terrorist group which has been particularly active in India. The jihadist group was founded as an offshoot of the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) by several radicalized members including Iqbal Bh ...
, which had been the first suspects, and
Students' Islamic Movement of India The Students' Islamic Movement of India (abbreviated SIMI) is a banned terrorist organisation that was formed in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh in April 1977. The stated mission of SIMI is the ‘liberation of India’ by converting it to an Islamic la ...
were convicted for carrying out the attacks.


Bombings

On the morning of 27 October 2013, the first bomb exploded at
Patna Junction railway station Patna Junction (station code PNBE) is a major railway station in the capital city of Patna in the Indian state of Bihar. It is the main railway station serving Patna. It falls under the Danapur division of the East Central Railway zone of the In ...
at around 10:00 , while two unexploded bombs were recovered by bomb disposal personnel. The second bomb exploded at 12:10, while the third bomb exploded at 12:25, both near
Gandhi Maidan Gandhi Maidan is a historic ground in Patna, near the banks of the Ganges River, in Bihar, India. The Golghar falls to its west. During the period of 1824–1833, under British rule, it was used as a golf course and horse racing track and was c ...
, where the
Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...
's Prime Ministerial candidate
Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...
was supposed to hold a rally in the lead-up to the
2014 Indian general election General elections were held in India in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May 2014 to elect the members of the 16th Lok Sabha. With 834 million registered voters, they were the largest-ever elections in the world until being surpassed by the 2019 ...
a couple of hours later. There were five other blasts from which three bombs exploded in and out of the Gandhi Maidan area, one exploded near a cinema hall and another close to the Twin Tower building complex in Patna. The chronology of the bombings were: *09:30 Public Toilet *11:40 near Udyog Bhawan *12:05 near eastern side of Regent Cinema *12:10 near Mahatma Gandhi Statue at Gandhi Maidan *12:15 near Twin Towers of southern periphery of Gandhi Maidan *12:20 near State Bank of India (western Gandhi Maidan) *12:25 near Children's Park (North-western side) *13:35 Modi started his speech. *17:15 inside Gandhi Maidan


Railway station

A crude bomb exploded on an isolated place on platform 10 of
Patna Junction railway station Patna Junction (station code PNBE) is a major railway station in the capital city of Patna in the Indian state of Bihar. It is the main railway station serving Patna. It falls under the Danapur division of the East Central Railway zone of the In ...
. One person who sustained injuries in this blast died. According to
Railway Protection Force Railway Protection Force is a security force under the ownership of Indian Railways, Ministry of Railways, Government of India established by the Railway Protection Force Act, 1957; enacted by the Indian Parliament for "the better protection ...
, the explosion took place at a paid toilet within the station. Two more homemade bombs were defused. According to
Union Home Ministry The Ministry of Home Affairs (IAST: ''Gṛha Maṃtrālaya''), or simply the Home Ministry, is a ministry of the Government of India. As an interior ministry of India, it is mainly responsible for the maintenance of internal security and dome ...
, one of the two crude bombs placed had a timer attached to it.


Gandhi Maidan

Later that day, five more low intensity blasts took place in
Gandhi Maidan Gandhi Maidan is a historic ground in Patna, near the banks of the Ganges River, in Bihar, India. The Golghar falls to its west. During the period of 1824–1833, under British rule, it was used as a golf course and horse racing track and was c ...
, where the pre-election rally of
Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...
was taking place. Several people were injured in these blasts. One more blast took place in Elphinstine Cinema near the Gandhi Maidan, injuring six people. One more unexploded bomb was found below the
dais A dais or daïs ( or , American English also but sometimes considered nonstandard)dais
in the Random House Dictionary< ...
where
Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...
had spoken in the rally, which has been defused. However, it was not confirmed how only a single bomb didn’t explode while others did. The eighth bomb exploded around 5 PM on the same day, which was believed to be hidden under garbage. The attackers are still unknown.


Reactions

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (IAST: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the ...
Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (; born 26 September 1932) is an Indian politician, economist and statesman who served as the 13th prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He is also the third longest-serving prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indir ...
condemned the blasts and spoke to Bihar Chief Minister
Nitish Kumar Nitish Kumar (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician, who is serving as Chief Minister of Bihar since 22 February 2015, having previous held the office from 2005 to 2014 and for a short period in 2000. The leader of the Janata Dal (Unite ...
asking him to hasten a probe into the incidents. The Union Home Ministry sent NIA and NSG teams to the blast sites for investigate. Union Minister of State for Home Affairs R. P. N. Singh assured the Bihar government that the
union government The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...
would provide all assistance in investigating the blast incident. For his part, Kumar condemned the blasts and said that his government had provided full security for the rally. He also revealed that a suspicious suitcase was found in Gandhi Maidan two days previously and henceforth security would be beefed up. He also cancelled his scheduled trip of
Munger Munger, formerly spelt as Monghyr, is a twin city and a Municipal Corporation situated in the Indian state of Bihar. It is the administrative headquarters of Munger district and Munger Division. Munger was one of the major cities in Eastern In ...
and convened a meeting on the law and order situation.
Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...
expressed his condolences for the bomb blast victims online. A week after the blast, Modi returned to Bihar to offer condolences and Rs. 500,000 to the families of the six people killed in the attack. Dense fog allowed him to visit only three families while the other three were contacted over the phone. Former Deputy CM of Bihar Sushil Kumar Modi called it a deliberate administrative failure and criminal negligence and wrong on ''
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
'': "When I saw 3 blast in gandhi Maidan,I ranged DGP Bihar.he said that truck tyre has burst." An
Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...
leader, Shakeel Ahmad, wrote: "Blasts during Modi Ji's 1st visit as PM hopeful to Bihar should be condemned by one and all. State govt and NIA should unearth the conspiracy." INC General Secretary
Digvijaya Singh Digvijaya Singh (born 28 February 1947) is an Indian politician and a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha. He is Ex-General Secretary of the Indian National Congress party's All India Congress Committee. Previously, he had served as the ...
said: "What a coincidence blast at Patna Railway on the day of Modi's Rally ! Challenge to Nitish Govt to find the culprit !."
Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Jamaat-e-Islami Hind ( ur, جماعتِ اسلامی ہند, abbreviated as JIH) is an Islamic organisation in India, founded as an offshoot of the Jamaat-e-Islami, which split into separate independent organisations in India, Pakistan, Banglades ...
General Secretary Nusrat Ali called for strong action against those who carried out the attacks. Hours after the attacks Union Home Minister
Sushilkumar Shinde Sushilkumar Sambhaji Shinde (born 4 September 1941) is an Indian politician from the state of Maharashtra. He was the Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of Power in the Manmohan Singh government, and the Leader of the House in Lok Sabha until ...
was spotted at the music launch party of
Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
movie Rajjo along with
Kangana Ranaut Kangna Amardeep Ranaut (; born 23 March 1987) is an Indian actress and filmmaker who works in Hindi films. Known for her work in female-led films, she is the recipient of several awards, including four National Film Awards and five Filmfar ...
. Several political parties, including the national
Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...
and
Communist Party of India Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest Marxist–Leninist communist party in India and one of the nine national parties in the country. The CPI was founded in modern-day Kanpur (formerly known as Cawnpore) on 26 December 1925. H ...
criticised his presence immediately after the blasts.


Investigation

Within days of the blasts, the
Nitish Kumar Nitish Kumar (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician, who is serving as Chief Minister of Bihar since 22 February 2015, having previous held the office from 2005 to 2014 and for a short period in 2000. The leader of the Janata Dal (Unite ...
government in Bihar requested
Union Home Minister The Minister of Home Affairs (or simply, the Home Minister, short-form HM) is the head of the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India. One of the senior-most officers in the Union Cabinet, the chief responsibility of the Home Minist ...
Sushilkumar Shinde Sushilkumar Sambhaji Shinde (born 4 September 1941) is an Indian politician from the state of Maharashtra. He was the Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of Power in the Manmohan Singh government, and the Leader of the House in Lok Sabha until ...
to have the
National Investigation Agency The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is the primary counter-terrorist task force of India. The agency is empowered to deal with the investigation of terror related crimes across states without special permission from the states under written ...
(NIA) take over the case. As terrorists were planting the bombs at Patna Junction railway station, one of the bombs prematurely exploded due to a wiring error. One of the suspects planting the bomb, Tarique alias Ainul was critically injured in the blast and died a few days later. Patna police converged on the scene of the blast and apprehended Imtiaz Ansari as he was attempting to flee in possession of explosives. Interrogation of Imtiaz Ansari revealed that the bombings were coordinated by
Indian Mujahideen Indian Mujahideen (IM) is an Islamic terrorist group which has been particularly active in India. The jihadist group was founded as an offshoot of the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) by several radicalized members including Iqbal Bh ...
, a Pakistani-linked Muslim terrorist group operating out of India. Ansari confessed that the goal was to ring the rally ground with bombs and cause
stampede A stampede () is a situation in which a group of large animals suddenly start running in the same direction, especially because they are excited or frightened. Non-human species associated with stampede behavior include zebras, cattle, elephants ...
during the rally to kill as many of the participants, particularly women and children, as possible. However, as the blasts went off, BJP officials organising the rally led the crowd to believe they were
fire cracker A firecracker (cracker, noise maker, banger) is a small explosive device primarily designed to produce a large amount of noise, especially in the form of a loud bang, usually for celebration or entertainment; any visual effect is incidental to ...
s and appealed for calm, thus averting a much greater loss of life and foiling the Indian Mujahideen's plans of inciting a deadly stampede that could have killed hundreds. In the initial days of the investigation, six suspects were detained for interrogation based on leads obtained by police from Imtiaz Ansari. Investigators believe Mohammad Tehsin Akhtar alias Monu to be the mastermind behind the serial blasts, and the second-highest ranking leader of the terrorist outfit, Indian Mujahideen. Tehsin had been radicalized at a
madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...
in
Chikmagalur Chikmagalur, known officially as Chikkamagaluru, is a city and the headquarters of Chikmagalur district in the Indian state of Karnataka. Located on the foothills of the Mullayanagiri peak of the Western Ghats, the city attracts tourists from ...
,
Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
in 2005 and has moved up the ranks in the terrorist group since then. After the blasts, the terrorist mastermind Tehsin Akhtar was revealed by news media as the nephew of Taqui Akhtar, a leader of the
Janata Dal (United) Janata Dal (United) ("People’s Party (United)”) abbreviated as JD(U) is an Indian political party with political presence mainly in eastern and north-eastern India. JD(U) is recognised as a state party in the states of Bihar , Arunachal Pra ...
, party which is currently in power in Bihar led by
Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...
Nitish Kumar Nitish Kumar (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician, who is serving as Chief Minister of Bihar since 22 February 2015, having previous held the office from 2005 to 2014 and for a short period in 2000. The leader of the Janata Dal (Unite ...
. Taqui publicly disowned his nephew after reports of his involvement in the serial blasts arose in the media. The
Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
Director General of Police Director general of police (DGP) is a rank in the Indian Police Service, held by the highest ranking police officer in a State or a Union Territory of India, typically heading the state or the UT police force. The DGP is appointed by the cabin ...
lambasted the
Bihar government The Government of Bihar, known locally as the State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Bihar and its 9 divisions which consist of 38 districts . It consists of an executive, led by the Governor of Bihar, a jud ...
for lack of cooperation and a lax approach to security for the rally despite receiving general intelligence inputs from the Intelligence Bureau (IB) of possible blasts during Modi's rally. He said that basic procedures mandatory for all public meetings, such as anti-sabotage checks and pre-event drills were not carried out by the
Bihar Police The Bihar Police Department is the law enforcement agency for the state of Bihar, India, with its headquarters in Patna. It has a sanctioned strength of 111,000 personnel, and as of 2017, employs 77,000 personnel. The annual Budgeted Estimate ...
despite requests made by
Gujarat Police The ' is the law enforcement agency for the state of Gujarat in India. The Gujarat Police has its headquarters in Gandhinagar, the state capital, and Ahmedabad. The Gujarat Police Department came into existence after Gujarat's separation fr ...
officials. BJP leaders, including former Bihar
Deputy Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...
, Sushil Kumar Modi, asserted that the security lapses were a deliberate, possibly criminal attempt by the Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar, to take revenge on his political enemy, Narendra Modi. Nitish Kumar rejected this charge saying that he had directed police to make all necessary security arrangements for the event. On 5 November 2013, a tip-off in tracking one of the suspected masterminds of the blasts led the National Intelligence Agency to a small hotel in
Ranchi Ranchi (, ) is the capital of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern Odisha, western West Bengal and the eastern area ...
,
Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...
, 350 kilometers from Patna, where they discovered 9 live bombs just like those used in the Patna blasts. Police suspect that the Patna bomb blast suspects have been staying at this hotel. By April 2014, NIA had arrested eight suspects for their alleged involvement in the explosions.


Chargesheet

On 24 April 2014, NIA filed the first
chargesheet In policing on the Indian subcontinent, a chargesheet is prepared after First Information Reports (FIRs), and charges an individual for (some or all of) the crimes specified in those FIR(s). Once the charge sheet has been submitted to a court ...
in the matter against Imtiaz Ansari under various provisions of the
Indian Penal Code The Indian Penal Code (IPC) is the official criminal code of India. It is a comprehensive code intended to cover all substantive aspects of criminal law. The code was drafted on the recommendations of first law commission of India established in ...
, Explosive Substances Act and other laws at an NIA special court. Cash rewards ranging from Rs. 5 lakh to Rs. 10 lakh have been declared for the arrest of the absconding accused—Mujibullah, Hyder Ali, Numan and Taufiq Ansari.


Verdict

The special NIA court convicted nine people (Imtiaz Ansari, Mujibullah, Haider Ali, Firoz Aslam, Omar Ansari, Iftekhar, Ahmed Husain, Umair Siddiqui and Azharuddin) in October 2021 while one person (Fakhruddin) was acquitted due to lack of evidence. Four of them were awarded capital punishment while two others were sentenced life imprisonment. Ten years in jail for two people and seven years in jail for one person was sentenced.


See also

*
List of assassination attempts on prime ministers of India There have been numerous assassination attempts on List of prime ministers of India, prime ministers of India. The prime minister is the Head of government, executive head of the Government of India, Union Government of India, and is usually the m ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Patna bombings Mass murder in 2013 Terrorist incidents in India in 2013 Politics of Bihar History of Bihar (1947–present) History of Patna Improvised explosive device bombings in India Islamic terrorism in India Indian Mujahideen attacks Islamic terrorist incidents in 2013 Crime in Bihar Attacks on theatres Attacks on buildings and structures in India Failed assassination attempts in Asia Narendra Modi