An Indian special court has convicted 19 people, including four Bangladeshi citizens, in the 2014 Burdwan blast case, reports PTI on Wednesday (Aug 28).
The quantum of punishment for all the convicts will be pronounced by the Kolkata court on Friday (Aug 30), according to media reports.
Two people were killed when an improvised explosive device, that they were making, went off in the busy Khagragarh locality of the Indian state of West Bengal's Burdwan district on Oct 2, 2014.
The house was taken on rent by the banned Jamat-ul-Mujaheedin of Bangladesh (JMB) and masked it as a burqa stitching factory, PTI quoted officials as saying.
“All convicts had confessed to their crimes,” DNA.com quoted the lawyer of National Investigation Agency (NIA), India’s central counter-terrorism agency which investigated the blast.
"The investigation by NIA revealed a conspiracy by JMB to radicalise, recruit and provide training in arms and explosives to its members in India as well as to commit terrorist acts and wage war against the democratically established Governments of India and Bangladesh," PTI quoted a NIA statement as saying.
A large number of IEDs, explosives, hand grenades, training videos were recovered during investigation, it said.
At least 30 people, who have been charge-sheeted in the case, are in judicial custody. The trial against the rest will continue, the NIA statement said. The court has been hearing the case in-camera.

Among the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections under which the 19 have been convicted are 120B (criminal conspiracy), 125 (waging or attempt to wage war against the government of any Asiatic power in alliance or at peace with the government of India), Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, Explosive Substances Act and Arms Act.

The Bangladeshi citizens were convicted under the Foreigners Act.

The Burdwan blast of 2014 is significant since it blew the lid off a flourishing network of terror elements belonging to the banned JMB in Bengal, especially in the districts of Burdwan, Birbhum and Nadia.

The NIA took charge of investigations the same year and submitted the first charge sheet in March 2015, mentioning a conspiracy to overthrow the Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh.

A large number of IEDs, explosives, hand grenades and training videos were recovered during the investigation.