Mumbai, Jul 21 (PTI) The acquittal of 12 accused in the 7/11 train blasts case has put the spotlight back on the credibility of investigation as the Bombay High Court has turned the ATS theory of SIMI-LeT involvement on its head.
Seven blasts ripped through Mumbai local trains at various locations on the western line on July 11, 2006, killing more than 180 persons and injuring several others.
A police official recalled the crime branch busting the network of homegrown terror outfit Indian Mujahideen in September 2008 and arresting its suspected ‘think tank’ Sadiq Shaikh, who had allegedly travelled outside India to receive training for terror activities.
The official said Shaikh had initially admitted to his involvement in the blasts case, following which he was handed over to the ATS.
The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) interrogated Shaikh but couldn’t establish his role, if any, in the conspiracy to trigger bomb blasts.
In hindsight, a police official who was involved in the probe said Shaikh might have accepted the responsibility for blasts on purpose to deflect suspicion from the accused arrested by the ATS.
“Shaikh’s statement was recorded before the Deputy Police Commissioner under MCOCA. However, his claim about his involvement in the blast with his associates was not proved, following which the ATS handed him back to the Mumbai crime branch,” the official said, recalling Shaikh was remanded in judicial custody then.
Defence advocates in 2013 declared Sheikh a hostile witness in the train blast case after he retracted his confessional statement given before a magistrate.
Shaikh, Arif Badruddin, and Ansar Ahmed were arrested in 2008 for their alleged role in various blasts which took place in India that year.
The ATS arrested 13 persons in connection with the Mumbai train blasts and filed a chargesheet.
Of the 12, five were sentenced to death and seven to life imprisonment by the special court in 2015. One of the death row convicts died in 2021.
The high court allowed the appeals filed by the accused challenging their conviction and sentences imposed on them by the special court.
The HC judgement on Monday comes as a major embarrassment to the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which had claimed that the accused were members of the banned outfit Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and had hatched the conspiracy with Pakistani members of terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
In a damning indictment of the prosecution’s case, the high court declared all confessional statements of the accused inadmissible, suggesting “copying”.
Further eroding the credibility of the confessions, the special bench said the accused had established that torture was inflicted upon them to extort these confessional statements.
The special bench of Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak said the prosecution had failed to even bring on record the type of bombs used in the crime and that the evidence relied on by it was not conclusive to convict the accused.
While senior officers remained tight-lipped about the fallout of the HC verdict, the ATS on Monday stated it will decide the future course of action after analysing the order and consulting the special public prosecutor. PTI DC NSK
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