Eight years after the Chinnaswamy Stadium twin bomb blasts in Bengaluru, three accused in the case were sentenced to seven years in jail and fined Rs 10 lakh on Monday by a special National Investigative Agency court. All of them were tried under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Judge Siddalinga Prabhu said that the three would be given seven years imprisonment and one-year rigorous imprisonment, with both the sentences running concurrently, UNI reported.

So far, the three have already been behind bars for six years. This came after the NIA court reserved its order on July 4.

On July 3, the three accused — Gowhar Azeez Khomani, Kamal Hassan, Mohammed Kafeel Akhtar confessed to their crimes after they filed a plea bargain under Section 265 of the Criminal Procedure Code, seeking leniency. The confession came after their plea was rejected based on technicalities.

As per the prosecution, the trio helped the terrorists and were part of the conspiracy to plant the bombs.

Other than these three, nine other persons were charged in the case, including prime accused and mastermind Yaseen Bhatkal. He is currently in Tihar Jail for his involvement in other terror-related activities.

Out of the 14 accused in the case, seven are still absconding.

The second accused, Mohammad Qateel Siddiqui, was killed by other inmates at Pune’s Yerwada jail in 2012.

On April 17, 2010, two low-intensity crude bombs exploded outside the stadium and a third was defused. The stadium was packed with spectators when the blasts took place. The bombs were triggered by timers.

The three are from Bihar and had gone to New Delhi prior to the bombings. They hatched the plan to blast bombs at Chinnaswamy Stadium in New Delhi along with Yasin Bhatkal. However, they were not involved in preparing or planting the bombs.