The sentence for the 70 persons convicted for serious charges of criminal conspiracy and murder in the 1998 serial bomb blasts, would be pronounced from Oct 24 by the sessions court, trying the cases.

Special judge K Uthirapathi had on August 1, convicted 70 out of the 166 persons against whom charges were framed under various sections.

These persons included the founder of banned Al-Umma S A Basha and general secretary Mohammad Ansari.

The court had released 76 persons, by setting off their sentence period, ranging from 21 months to nine years, since they had already served the term as under-trials.

Eight others, including Kerala-based PDP leader, Abdul Nasser Madhani, were released as charges against them were not proved.

The serial blasts, which went off during the visit of BJP leader L K Advani on February 14, 1998, had claimed over 58 lives and left more than 250 injured.