Shingar blast: All three accused acquitted by Ludhiana court

Rajneesh Lakhanpal

Ludhiana , December 16

The court of Additional Sessions Judge HS Grewal today acquitted all three accused in the Shingar Cinema blast case, giving them the benefit of doubt.

Those acquitted are Gurpreet Singh alias Khalsa of Mandi Mullanpur, Harminder Singh of Ludhiana and Ravinder Singh alias Rinku of Azad Nagar, also in Ludhiana.

The fourth accused, Sandip Singh, had died at the high-security Nabha jail last year during the trial. On October 14, 2007, at least seven persons, including an 11-year old boy, were killed and more than 30 injured in a powerful blast at the Shingar Cinema House in the city.

Most of the victims were from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh who had come to view a Bhojpuri movie.

The blast occurred after the interval at around 8.35 pm. On the complaint of the cinema house manager, Gopal Krishan, an FIR was registered under Sections 302 and 307 of the IPC and Sections 3,4 and 5 of the Explosives Act at the city’s Division No 6 police station.

Ravinder Singh was arrested on December 30, 2007, Gurpreet Singh on January 2, 2008, and Harminder Singh in March 2010. The prosecution examined 43 witnesses and the defence 17. The accused had pleaded that they had been falsely implicated in the case. After the end of arguments, the court observed that the three could not be convicted on the basis of evidence produced before it.