Judgement day in Mumbai train blasts case today

Mumbai: The fate of 13 accused will be decided on Friday as the special MCOCA court in Mumbai is set to pronounce the verdict in the 2006 serial bombings on Mumbai's local trains.

Two of the accused — Faisal Sheikh and Asif Khan Bashir Khan alias Junaid — have been identified by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad as the main conspirators of the attacks.

Faisal, who planted a bomb which went off at Jogeshwari station, is accused of working for Lashkar-e-Taiba’s Pakistani commander-in-chief Azam Cheema, an absconding accused and also among the key conspirators in the incident. Co-conspirator Junaid allegedly procured bags, utensils, ammonium nitrate and detonators.

As per the prosecution’s



case, the accused persons were activists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). They held several conspiratorial meetings at Faisal’s house in Bandra and at another accused Sajid’s house in Mira Road, where they decided to target local trains as they were crowded and security was not as tight as for the other sites they had surveyed.

On the day of the attacks, they travelled in different taxis to Churchgate with seven bags of explosives, kept at Faisal's house, and planted them on various trains.

Starting 6.24 p.m. on July 11, 2006, seven blasts ripped through the first class compartments of the trains at Matunga, Mahim, Bandra, Jogeshwari, Borivali and Mira Road stations.