A special court in Mumbai has sentenced five persons to death in the case after nine years of after the series of the bomb blasts in Mumbai suburban trains killed 188 people and left 829 civilians injured. Death penalty was granted to Faisal Sheikh, Asif Khan, Kamal Ansari, Ehtesham Siddiqui and Naveed Khan by the Mumbai’s special court which has been trailing this case of 2006 Mumbai serial train blasts.

Life Term for Seven and Death Sentences for Five Awarded For Convicts

The special MCOCA court has sentenced the remaining seven persons to life imprisonment after the conviction of all the alleged charges against them. Conviction of the five convicts who have been sentenced with the death penalty were labeled under various sections, including those of the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and the Indian Penal Code.

“I would file an appeal against the verdict” said the defence lawyer while addressing on being asked about his reaction over the judgment. While advocating the Mumbai serial train blasts in the special MCOCA court death penalty was demanded for 8 of the 12 accused by the prosecution while it while it sought life imprisonment for the remaining four.

Acquitting one, the special MCOCA court convicted 12 of the 13 accused on September 11, 2015 for allegedly having links with banned SIMI. All the accused of the 2006 Mumbai serial train blasts were shamefaced with the charge under IPC, Explosives Act, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act and Indian Railway Act and those under MCOCA.

Convicts May is Awarded Capital Punishment

Convicts of the 2006 Mumbai serial train blasts are 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), Sohail Mehmood Shaikh (43), Zamir Ahmad Shaikh (36), Naveed Hussain Khan (30) and Asif Khan (38). 12 accused of bomb blasts were found guilty under Section 3 (1) (i) of MCOCA which could also attract capital punishment.

After probing the nine witnesses, defence lawyers opined that the accused have undergone the reformation and thus may not be given capital punishment. After examining the produced nine witnesses in the courts, defence lawyers justified leniency for the12 convicts saying that they were merely the pawns of mastermind Azam Cheema, the member of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba. It was also claimed by the defence lawyers that the convicts have encountered several hardships in jail and that was also one of the mitigating circumstances.

Raja Thakare, the special public prosecutor arrogated the convicts as convicts “merchants of death” and pressed for capital punishment to eight of the twelve convicts. Charge sheet of the ATS briefed that Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were made in a room in Govandi in suburban Mumbai and some Pakistani nationals were also present during the bomb-making. On July 11, 2006, at least seven RDX bombs were reported to have exploded in the first class coaches in many suburban trains killing 188 people and injuring 829 civilians.

 Victims and eye witnesses of this disastrous Mumbai train serial bomb blasts recall it saying that it all  occurred within a span of 10 minutes between Khar Road-Santacruz, Bandra-Khar Road, Jogeshwari-Mahim Junction, Mira Road- Bhayander, Matunga- Mahim Junction and Borivali. Hang on with us for more updates and trending alerts happening across the nation by bookmarking us in your web browser to land on our web page again.