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.