After 19 years in lock up, 12 men accused of perpetrating the 2006 Mumbai train blasts will walk free on Monday after Bombay High Court set aside their convictions.
On July 11, 2006, when a series of bombs exploded on Western suburban coaches, killing 189 commuters and injuring 824, Kamal Ansari from Bihar, Mohammad Faisal Ataur Rahman Shaikh from Mumbai, Ehtesham Qutubuddin Siddiqui from Thane, Naveed Hussain Khan from Secunderabad and Asif Khan from Jalgaon in Maharashtra were found guilty of planting the bombs and sentenced to death by the trial court.
Tanveer Ahmed Mohammed Ibrahim Ansari, Mohammed Majid Mohammed Shafi, Shaikh Mohammed Ali Alam Shaikh, Mohammed Sajid Margub Ansari, Muzammil Ataur Rahman Shaikh, Suhail Mehmood Shaikh and Zameer Ahmed Latiur Rehman Shaikh were sentenced to life imprisonment
Ansari died in the Nagpur prison during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.
Out of the 12 accused at least seven of them were identified to be a part of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) or had some relation to it. It is an Islamist organization that has been banned in India since 2001, shortly after the 9/11 attacks. The men came from Mumbai, Jalgaon, Mira Road, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Bangalore.
The men, who will be released this week after serving almost 20 years in prison, come from a variety of backgrounds, occupations, and geographical areas. They include doctors, engineers, shopkeepers, and former members of the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). These individuals, who were formerly found guilty of planning the fatal train explosions, will now be allowed to go free.
The Accused Who Were Sentenced To Death
Kamal Ansari
The late Kamal Ansari, 50, was a resident of Basopatti in Madhubani district of Bihar, according to Indian Express. He had been accused of receiving arms training in Pakistan and ferrying two Pakistani terrorists from across the Indo-Nepal border and dropping them in Mumbai. He was also accused of planting the bomb that exploded at Matunga.
According to reports, Kamal, the youngest son of Vakil Ansari, a tailor in the Indian Army, was a frequent traveler to Nepal, a 45-minute drive from his village. Kamal, who experimented with a number of ventures, such as selling chicken meat and fixing bicycles, was under suspicion by the authorities and had previously been detained in connection with a counterfeit currency scheme.
He spewed dohas (couplets) from Tulsidas' Ramcharitmanas and was not known to have displayed overt symptoms of radicalism.
Faisal Shaikh
Hailing from Mira road in Mumbai, Faisal Shaikh was accused of being the head of Lashkar-e-Toiba’s (LeT) Mumbai unit and convicted for being the key financier of the Mumbai train blast. In June 2001, he obtained a legitimate Indian passport, hoping to travel to Pakistan. Six months later, in January 2002, Faisal allegedly crossed the border on the Samjhauta Express and trained with the LeT in Muzaffarabad and Lahore.
Faisal is the eldest of three sons of Attaur Rahman, who worked in Saudi Arabia. After living in Pune for a while, the family moved to Mira Road, where SIMI is said to have brainwashed Shaikh. In an attempt to visit Pakistan, he secured a valid Indian passport in June 2001. Faisal allegedly crossed the border on the Samjhauta Express six months later, in January 2002, and trained with the LeT in Lahore and Muzaffarabad.
Naveed Hussain Khan Rasheed
Naveed Hussain Khan Rasheed had moved to Secunderabad, where he was working in a call centre. Police, however, claimed that he was in touch with all the accused and was in Mumbai when the blast took place. He was arrested from Secunderabad.
Rasheed was born in Kuwait and is supposed to have returned with his family after the death of his mother. According to reports, his mother was a Pakistani citizen who worked as an Islamic teacher in Kuwait. The family had purchased a flat in Mira Road, and Naveed had developed a strong friendship with Faisal Shaikh, who was said to be the person to chiefly fund the conspiracy.
Asif Khan
A civil engineer from Jalgaon, Asif Khan was a known member of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Police report that he had harboured the Pakistani terrorists at Mira Road. He was responsible for procuring the pressure cookers and helped in assembling the bombs. He was also accused of planting the bomb that went off in Borivali.
After the blasts, Khan left the city and shifted to Belgaum. He was the last accused to be arrested in the case. His family, however, claims that he was working in his office when the blast occurred.
Ehtesham Siddiqui
Forty-two-year-old Ehtesham Siddiqui was charged with harbouring Pakistanis, surveying trains, assembling the bombs, and planting the bomb which went off in Mira-Bhayandar. He was picked up and scheduled in 2001 from a SIMI-run library in Kurla. Since then, the cops had been keeping an eye on him. After that, Siddiqui launched his own publishing company and printed novels under the Shahadah Publishing House name. Siddiqui was also an office-bearer for the Maharashtra branch of SIMI.
Jihad Fi Sabilillah (Crusade in the Name of Allah) and Jihadi Azkaar (Tales of Crusaders) are among the jihadi novels that the police allegedly confiscated. It's interesting to note that these "objectionable books" were openly accessible at bookstalls throughout Mumbai at the time.
The Accused Who Were Serving Life Sentences
Tanveer Ansari
Fifty-year-old Tanveer Ansari is a resident of Agripada and was convicted of attending terror camps in Pakistan and surveying local trains in which the blasts took place.
Tanveer, who has eight siblings, completed his degree in Unani medicine from Nagpur and got associated with SIMI. He denies his association with the outfit but was part of a relief team organised by the group and sent to Gujarat after the January 2001 earthquake. He was picked up months later and booked by the Mumbai police after he was found sitting at a library operated by SIMI, which had been banned by then.
Mohammed Ali
Fifty-five-year-old Mohammed Ali was charged with assembling bombs at his house in Govandi with the help of Pakistanis who had sneaked into India.
Previously, Mohammed Ali would import medications from Hyderabad and deliver them to Unani physicians. He began working as a SIMI agent during this period and was credited with starting a campaign against video parlors in his neighborhood.
He was repeatedly called by the police, particularly following the Mumbai explosions in 2002–03, and had been charged with being a SIMI member. Over a dozen of the conspirators allegedly assembled the bombs in his 100-square-foot home, which was constantly monitored by the local police.
Sajid Ansari
A Mira Road resident, Sajid Ansari, 47, was alleged to have assisted in the bombs' assembly and obtained timers for them. He is also accused of harboring two Pakistanis.
In Naya Nagar, Sajid operated a mobile repair shop that the other accused frequently visited. Extremist ideology is reported to have taken hold of him. According to the authorities, he assisted in obtaining the bomb timers and his technical expertise was utilized throughout the entire plot.
Muzammil
A 40-year-old software engineer, Muzammil was allegedly trained in Pakistan and had inspected the nearby trains that were to be attacked. He is the youngest defendant in the case, and it is thought that two of his brothers, Faisal and Raahil, were the primary conspirators. Raahil escaped capture.
A few months prior to the 2006 explosions, Muzammil had started working as a software developer for Oracle Corporation in Bangalore. 카지노 사이트 reports state that he was pulled up by the Bangalore police on July 13 of that year, but they released him because he wasn't in Mumbai on the day of the train explosions. After his brother Faisal was arrested, they later informed the Mumbai police about him.
Suhail Shaikh
Pune resident Suhail Shaikh, 55, was supposed to have taken arms training in Pakistan and surveyed the trains to be targeted.A resident of Bhimpura Lane in Pune’s Camp area, Suhail is the eldest in the family and earned a living doing zari work and clothing alterations. Known to be pious, he was educated in an English school and also acted as a faith healer.
He is supposed to have visited Iran, which his family claims was to set up a dry fruits business. In police records, he was known as a SIMI operative and was arrested after the organisation was banned. He had been under surveillance since the ban was enforced.
Zameer
A 50-year-old Worli man, Zameer was charged with conspiracy meetings, train surveying, and training in Pakistan. He attended Khairul Islam High School in Mominpura for his education, and in 1996 he graduated from Maharashtra College in Nagpada. Later, he started a roadside business producing duplicate keys.
He allegedly first made contact with the other suspects in the early 2000s. Additionally, he reportedly spent 20 days traveling overseas in 2005. But according to Zameer's family, he left the nation to look for work but came back when he couldn't find one.
