New Delhi, Jun 6 (IANS): Terrorist and mastermind of the 2006 Varanasi serial bomb blasts, Waliullah Khan, was sentenced to death by a Ghaziabad court on Monday. The verdict came after over 16 years of the blasts, in which at least 20 people were reportedly killed and nearly 100 people injured.

The blasts were rocked at the Sankat Mochan temple and the cantonment railway station in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi on March 7, 2006.

On Saturday, District Sessions Judge Jitendra Kumar Sinha convicted Waliullah in two cases lodged under IPC sections of murder, attempt to murder, and mutilation, and under the Explosives Act.

Hailing from Prayagraj, Waliullah, a mufti or Islamic legal authority, was arrested by police after a case was opened and his case was taken to Ghaziabad after Varanasi lawyers refused to protect him.

He faced trial in three cases, which included six cases registered at Lanka and Dashashwamedh police stations and the Government Railway Police precinct in Varanasi.