New Delhi: Coimbatore will be under a tight security cover as a special court is scheduled to pronounce sentences in the 1998 Coimbatore serial blasts case on Wednesday.
The court will pronounce sentences for 70 people convicted of criminal conspiracy and murder charges in the blasts case.
The founder-leader of al-Umma, S A Basha, and its general secretary Mohammed Ansari are among the 70 who were convicted by special judge K Uthirapathi on August 1 after being found guilty.
Of the 166 people arrested in connection with the blasts, 158 were convicted while eight others, including Kerala-based PDP leader, Abdul Nasser Madhani, were acquitted, as charges against them could not be proved.
News agency PTI quoted police as saying besides tight security, movement of public and vehicles would also be restricted around the court.
Armed guards would be posted at sensitive places, besides intensifying vehicle checks on border areas. Pickets would be set up at vantage points and mobile patrolling would be intensified, they said, adding additional forces would be deployed in sensitive pockets of the district.
It was on February 14, 1998 when hundreds had gathered in Coimbatore during the election campaign visit of senior BJP leader L K Advani that bombs went off at 12 different places in the city, including the rally site, killing 58 people.
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