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The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the death sentence of three accused in connection with the Akshardham temple attack case of September 24, 2002 in which 34 persons, including two National Security Guard (NSG) commandos were killed. An apex court bench of Justice B. Sudarshan Reddy and Justice S. Nijjar stayed the death sentence. The court also issued notice to the Gujarat Government on their petition of seeking a quashing of the death sentences. The court also stayed the life sentence of one convict and a 10-year-prison sentence given to an other convict in the same case. The Akshardham Temple was stormed by terrorists in September 2002. Thirty-four people were killed and over 80 people were injured in the incident that lasted 14 hours. The investigations, initially handled by the Gandhinagar Police, were passed on to the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), and then to the Ahmedabad Crime Branch, which arrested six persons.

Akshardham case: Supreme Court stays death sentence of three convicts