29-617: The Golghar or Gol Ghar (गोलघर), ("Round House") is a large granary located to the west of the Gandhi Maidan in Patna , capital of Bihar state , India. According to a contemporary inscription at its base, the Golghar in Patna was intended to be just the first of a series of huge grain stores. In the end, however, no others were ever built. The granary was "part of a general plan … for
58-469: A great political significance as well. Khairun Miya had donated this piece of land to help further the national movement and several important meetings of well-known freedom fighters were held here. In one of the largest events of 2024 Over 4 Lakh people attended the Pushpa 2: The Rule Trailer launch event on 17th November 2024 hosted by Allu Arjun and Rashmika Mandanna. Several movements were launched on
87-463: A huge meeting at Patna Lawns. That meeting was the first time Indians were allowed to visit Patna Lawn without any restrictions. Until then, entry was restricted to Europeans and the elite (Loyalist Indians). The historic Patna Lawn was renamed Gandhi Maidan in 1948 after his assassination as a tribute. A statue of Gandhi was erected in 1990s near the southern end. On 27 October 2013, there were six serial bomb blasts at Gandhi Maidan just before
116-587: A massive election rally for Narendra Modi , the then Bharatiya Janata Party candidate for Prime Minister. Of the estimated 300,000 participants at the "Hunkar" rally, six people were killed and 85 others were injured in eight bomb blasts. No one initially claimed responsibility for the bombings. In 2021, members of the Indian Mujahideen , who had been the initial suspects, and the Students' Islamic Movement of India were convicted of carrying out
145-543: A much greater loss of life and foiling the Indian Mujahideen's plans of inciting a deadly stampede that could have killed hundreds. In the initial days of the investigation, six suspects were detained for interrogation based on leads obtained by police from Imtiaz Ansari. Investigators believe Mohammad Tehsin Akhtar alias Monu to be the mastermind behind the serial blasts, and the second-highest ranking leader of
174-643: A rally in the lead-up to the 2014 Indian general election a couple of hours later. There were five other blasts from which three bombs exploded in and out of the Gandhi Maidan Marg , one exploded near a cinema hall and another close to the Twin Tower building complex in Patna. The chronology of the bombings were: A crude bomb exploded on an isolated place on platform 10 of Patna Junction railway station . One person who sustained injuries in this blast died. According to Railway Protection Force ,
203-413: A wall of thickness of 3.6 m at the base. One can climb to the top of the Golghar via its 145-step spiral stairway. The spiral staircase was designed to facilitate the passage of the workers who loaded and unloaded the grain in the granary, who had to carry grain-bags up one flight, deliver their load through a hole at the top, and descend the other stairs. The top of the Golghar presents a panoramic view of
232-529: Is underway. Golghar was shown in 2019 Hindi film India's Most Wanted . Gandhi Maidan Gandhi Maidan is a historic ground in Patna , near the banks of the Ganges River, in Bihar , India. The Golghar falls to its west. During the period of 1824–1833, under British rule, it was used as a golf course and horse racing track and was called Patna Lawns . It is spread across 60 acres of land. It has
261-585: The BJP 's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi reached there to address a huge gathering. Eight people were killed and 66 injured in the serial blasts. On 3 October 2014 a stampede took place in Gandhi Maidan, on the occasion of Dussehra festival, in which reportedly 32 people died. 2013 Patna bombings On 27 October 2013, a series of bomb blasts rocked the Indian city of Patna , Bihar at
290-582: The Bihar Police despite requests made by Gujarat Police officials. BJP leaders, including former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister , Sushil Kumar Modi , asserted that the security lapses were a deliberate, possibly criminal attempt by the Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar, to take revenge on his political enemy, Narendra Modi. Nitish Kumar rejected this charge saying that he had directed police to make all necessary security arrangements for
319-440: The Gandhi Maidan, injuring six people. One more unexploded bomb was found below the dais where Narendra Modi had spoken in the rally, which has been defused. However, it was not confirmed how only a single bomb didn’t explode while others did. The eighth bomb exploded around 5 PM on the same day, which was believed to be hidden under garbage. The attackers are still unknown. Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh condemned
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#1732801415980348-730: The Patna Lawns during the Indian freedom struggle, the most important being the Champaran movement and the Quit India movement of 1942. Many prominent leaders of the Indian Independence Movement , such as Mahatma Gandhi , Rajendra Prasad , Anugrah Narayan Sinha , Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel , Maulana Azad , Jawaharlal Nehru , Jayaprakash Narayan and Sri Krishna Sinha addressed their rallies from here. It
377-476: The attacks. On the morning of 27 October 2013, the first bomb exploded at Patna Junction railway station at around 10:00, while two unexploded bombs were recovered by bomb disposal personnel. The second bomb exploded at 12:10, while the third bomb exploded at 12:25, both near Gandhi Maidan , where the Bharatiya Janata Party 's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was supposed to hold
406-687: The blast, Modi returned to Bihar to offer condolences and Rs. 500,000 to the families of the six people killed in the attack. Dense fog allowed him to visit only three families while the other three were contacted over the phone. Former Deputy CM of Bihar Sushil Kumar Modi called it a deliberate administrative failure and criminal negligence and wrong on Twitter : "When I saw 3 blast in Gandhi Maidan, I ranged DGP Bihar. He said that truck tyre has burst." [ sic ] An Indian National Congress leader, Shakeel Ahmad , wrote: "Blasts during Modi Ji's 1st visit as PM hopeful to Bihar should be condemned by one and all. State govt and NIA should unearth
435-413: The blasts and said that his government had provided full security for the rally. He also revealed that a suspicious suitcase was found in Gandhi Maidan two days previously and henceforth security would be beefed up. He also cancelled his scheduled trip of Munger and convened a meeting on the law and order situation. Narendra Modi expressed his condolences for the bomb blast victims online. A week after
464-460: The blasts and spoke to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar asking him to hasten a probe into the incidents. The Union Home Ministry sent NIA and NSG teams to the blast sites for investigate. Union Minister of State for Home Affairs R. P. N. Singh assured the Bihar government that the union government would provide all assistance in investigating the blast incident. For his part, Kumar condemned
493-468: The bombings were coordinated by Indian Mujahideen , a Pakistani-linked Muslim terrorist group operating out of India. Ansari confessed that the goal was to ring the rally ground with bombs and cause stampede during the rally to kill as many of the participants, particularly women and children, as possible. However, as the blasts went off, BJP officials organising the rally led the crowd to believe they were fire crackers and appealed for calm, thus averting
522-451: The case. As terrorists were planting the bombs at Patna Junction railway station, one of the bombs prematurely exploded due to a wiring error. One of the suspects planting the bomb, Tarique alias Ainul was critically injured in the blast and died a few days later. Patna police converged on the scene of the blast and apprehended Imtiaz Ansari as he was attempting to flee in possession of explosives. Interrogation of Imtiaz Ansari revealed that
551-453: The city and the Ganges . Golghar has never been filled to its maximum capacity and there are no plans to do so. Some have claimed that the reason for this is a flaw whereby the doors are designed to open inwards; thus, if it is filled to its maximum capacity, then the doors will not open. However, visitors have found that the doors open outwards. Presently renovation of this historical monument
580-407: The conspiracy." [ sic ] INC General Secretary Digvijaya Singh said: "What a coincidence blast at Patna Railway on the day of Modi's Rally ! Challenge to Nitish Govt to find the culprit !." Jamaat-e-Islami Hind General Secretary Nusrat Ali called for strong action against those who carried out the attacks. Hours after the attacks Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde
609-586: The event. On 5 November 2013, a tip-off in tracking one of the suspected masterminds of the blasts led the National Intelligence Agency to a small hotel in Ranchi , Jharkhand , 350 kilometers from Patna, where they discovered 9 live bombs just like those used in the Patna blasts. Police suspect that the Patna bomb blast suspects have been staying at this hotel. By April 2014, NIA had arrested eight suspects for their alleged involvement in
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#1732801415980638-513: The explosion took place at a paid toilet within the station. Two more homemade bombs were defused. According to Union Home Ministry , one of the two crude bombs placed had a timer attached to it. Later that day, five more low intensity blasts took place in Gandhi Maidan , where the pre-election rally of Narendra Modi was taking place. Several people were injured in these blasts. One more blast took place in Elphinstine Cinema near
667-722: The explosions. On 24 April 2014, NIA filed the first chargesheet in the matter against Imtiaz Ansari under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code , Explosive Substances Act and other laws at an NIA special court. Cash rewards ranging from Rs. 5 lakh to Rs. 10 lakh have been declared for the arrest of the absconding accused—Mujibullah, Hyder Ali, Numan and Taufiq Ansari. The special NIA court convicted nine people (Imtiaz Ansari, Mujibullah, Haider Ali, Firoz Aslam, Omar Ansari, Iftekhar, Ahmed Husain, Umair Siddiqui and Azharuddin) in October 2021 while one person (Fakhruddin)
696-614: The north western corner lies the Gandhi Sangrahalaya, which showcases various pictures and records of Mahatma Gandhi 's presence and connections with Bihar. During 1947, it was the house of the Education Minister, Syed Mahmud . These grounds are situated near Ashok Rajpath in Moradpur and are 2.5 km from central Patna. During his Bihar visit at the time of Champaran Satyagraha, Mahatma Gandhi addressed
725-595: The perpetual prevention of famine in these provinces". The beehive - shaped structure was designed by John Garstin of the Bengal Engineers, part of the East India Company 's Bengal Army . Its construction was completed on 20 July 1786. A drive to improve the appearance of the structure was begun in 2002. Built in the Stupa architecture, the building has a height of 29 m. It is pillar-less with
754-517: The serial blasts arose in the media. The Gujarat Director General of Police lambasted the Bihar government for lack of cooperation and a lax approach to security for the rally despite receiving general intelligence inputs from the Intelligence Bureau (IB) of possible blasts during Modi's rally. He said that basic procedures mandatory for all public meetings, such as anti-sabotage checks and pre-event drills were not carried out by
783-610: The terrorist outfit, Indian Mujahideen. Tehsin had been radicalized at a madrasa in Chikmagalur , Karnataka in 2005 and has moved up the ranks in the terrorist group since then. After the blasts, the terrorist mastermind Tehsin Akhtar was revealed by news media as the nephew of Taqui Akhtar, a leader of the Janata Dal (United) , party which is currently in power in Bihar led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar . Taqui publicly disowned his nephew after reports of his involvement in
812-588: Was said that a leader had not arrived until he had addressed a rally at the Patna Lawns. JP Movement , the successful opposition movement to Indira Gandhi , was also launched from this historic ground. Presently, this ground is used for private parties, mass prayers and trade fairs. The flag-raising ceremony on the Indian Independence Day and Republic Day is held here by the Chief Minister and Governor of Bihar respectively. In
841-580: Was spotted at the music launch party of Bollywood movie Rajjo along with Kangana Ranaut . Several political parties, including the national Bharatiya Janata Party and Communist Party of India criticised his presence immediately after the blasts. Within days of the blasts, the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar requested Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde to have the National Investigation Agency (NIA) take over
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