| Ara Civil Court bombing | |
| Location: | Arrah, Bihar, India |
| Coordinates: | 25.5633°N 84.6647°W |
| Time: | 11:30 am |
| Timezone: | UTC + 5:30 |
| Type: | suicide bombing |
| Fatalities: | 3 (including the bomber) |
| Injuries: | 7+ |
| Victim: | --> |
| Perpetrator: | --> |
| Perps: | or |
| Perp: | --> |
| Numpart: | --> |
| Dfen: | --> |
| Motive: | Help undertrial prisoners escape |
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On 23 January 2015, a bomb went off at the civil court premises of Ara, Bhojpur district, Bihar, India in order to facilitate a prison escape.[1] [2]
There was a blast in the civil court premises around 11:35 am IST. A suspected woman might have carried out the suicide bombing as per initial findings. Two persons along with the woman were killed in the blast, one of them was a police constable. At least seven more people were injured in the attack.[1] [2] Taking advantage of the chaos following the blast, two criminals under trial who were brought to the court for a hearing fled the premises.[3] [4]
Bihar Police searched the whole court premises.[1] [2] The police arrested Sunil Pandey, the Janata Dal (United) politician, in connection with the crime.[5]
Additional Director General of Police Gupteshwar Pandey said the woman was carrying the bomb in her purse and it had exploded accidentally, denying she was a suicide bomber. The woman was identified as Rina Gaudh, the district magistrate of Bhojpur said she was trying to help two prisoners escape, she didn't carry out a terror attack.[6]
In 2019, Lambu Sharma was sentenced to a life term for his role in the attack. Sharma, a local gangster and explosives expert was one of the prisoners that successfully fled when the blast went off.[7]