Nine years after seven RDX bombs kept in Mumbai suburban trains exploded killing 188 people, a Special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court convicted 12 people accused in the case and acquitted one.
Quantum of punishment in the blast case will be pronounced on Sept 14.
Kamal Ahamed Ansari (37), Tanvir Ahmed Ansari (37), Mohd Faisal Shaikh (36), Ehtesham Siddiqui (30), Mohammad Majid Shafi (32), Shaikh Alam Shaikh (41), Mohd Sajid Ansari (34), Muzzammil Shaikh (27), Soheil Mehmood Shaikh (43), Zamir Ahmad Shaikh (36), Naveed Hussain Khan (30), Asif Khan (38) were found guilty by the court.
Abdul Waheed Sheikh has been acquitted in the case. Azam Chima, along with 14 others, is absconding in the case.
In a trial that lasted for eight years, the prosecution examined 192 witnesses, including eight Indian Police Service (IPS) and five Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers as well as 18 doctors. The defence lawyers examined 51 witnesses and one person was called as a court witness. The deposition made by witnesses runs into around 5,500 pages.
Examination of witnesses resumed after two years since the Supreme Court had stayed the trial in 2008. Before the stay, the prosecution had already examined a police officer. The Supreme Court vacated the stay on April 23, 2010.
Seven RDX bombs had exploded in the first class coaches of Mumbai’s suburban trains on July 11, 2006, killing 188 people and injuring 829.
The RDX bombs were kept in pressure cookers and placed in local trains on the Western line. The blasts occurred between 6.24 and 6.35 pm, when lakhs of office-goers use Mumbai’s local trains to get back home from work.
The blast occurred between Khar Road-Santacruz, Bandra-Khar Road, Jogeshwari-Mahim Junction, Mira Road- Bhayander, Matunga- Mahim Junction and Borivali.
Nine years after the blasts, 15 accused are still on the run, including, the police say, those who masterminded the blasts. The police say Pakistani nationals and members of the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba were involved.