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In a major decision, 38 accused have been sentenced to death by hanging in the Ahmedabad serial blast case. This is the first time in India in which so many accused have been sentenced to death in a single case.

Eleven of the accused have been sentenced to life in prison. The case will now go up to the Gujarat High Court, where the death sentences will be confirmed.

All the accused were digitally present from different jails in the country while the court was announcing the sentence.

The special court had last week convicted 49 people and acquitted 28 others, more than 13 years after a series of bomb blasts killed 56 people and left over 200 injured in Ahmedabad, within 70 minutes, on July 26, 2008.

The accused were convicted under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, UAPA, Explosive Substances Act and Damage to Public Property Act. One accused was also convicted under the Arms Act.

They were convicted under sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 121 (a) (conspiracy to wage war or attempt to wage war against the nation) and 124 (a) (sedition) among others of the IPC, and 16(1)(a)(b) of the UAPA related to punishment for a terrorist act.

The court had concluded a trial against 77 accused in September last year. Of the 78 accused put on trial, one had turned an approver.

The police had claimed that people associated with the terror outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM), a faction of radicals of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), were involved in the blasts.

It was alleged that the IM terrorists had planned these blasts to avenge the 2002 post-Godhra riots.

Days after the serial blasts in Ahmedabad, the police had recovered bombs from different parts of Surat, following which 20 FIRs were registered in Ahmedabad and 15 in Surat. The trial was conducted after the court merged all 35 FIRs.

A man died after a school bus hit him in Urlabari Municipality-1, Morang on Thursday evening.

The deceased has been identified as Bhata Bahadur Shrestha (56) of Miklajung Rural Municipality-3.

Police said that the bus (Ba 1 Ka 5609) was heading towards north from south when the incident occurred along the Urlabari-Madhumalla road section.

Critically injured in the incident, Shrestha breathed his last during the course of treatment at the B and C hospital in Birtamod, Jhapa, traffic police Inspector Chandra Bahadur Khadka.

Police said that they have impounded the bus and arrested its driver Hariraj Bhattarai (60) for investigation.

The government has decided to add three more Additional Inspector Generals in the Nepal Police.

A Cabinet meeting held on Thursday made the decision to this effect, a minister said.

Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand had proposed to increase the number of Additional Inspector Generals in the Nepal Police.

With the addition, the number of Additional Inspector Generals in Nepal Police reached eight.

Similarly, the government has decided to appoint Ramesh Hamal as the Chairman of the Nepal Securities Board.

Nepal logged 570 new Covid-19 cases and six deaths on Thursday. 

With this, the country's active caseload mounted to 1,112,537. Similarly, the death toll has climbed to 11,905. 

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 7, 028 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 364 returned positive. Likewise, 2,761 people underwent antigen tests, of which 206 tested positive.

The Ministry said that 1,993 infected people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours.

As of today, there are 16,616 active cases in the country. 

The Ministry said that 17,580 people are staying in home isolation while 671 are in institutionalized isolation.

Meanwhile, the Kathmandu Valley reported 199 new cases today.

According to the Ministry, 162 cases are reported in Kathmandu, 25 in Lalitpur and 12 in Bhaktapur.