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Mumbai 7/11 train blasts: Five sentenced to death, lifer for seven

by IBNS 29 Sep 2015, 10:28 pm

Mumbai, Sept 30 (IBNS) A Mumbai court on Wednesday sentenced to death five convicts in the 2006 local train blasts, which killed 188 people and injured more than 800, reports said.

Pronouncing the verdict, the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court judge Yatin Shinde sentenced to death Faisal Sheikh, Asif Khan, Kamal Ansari, Ehtesham Sidduqui and Naveed Khan who planted the bombs in various trains.

Seven other convicts were sentenced to life imprisonment. They are : Mohammed Sajid Ansari, Mohammed Ali, Dr. Tanveer Ansari, Majid Shafi, Muzzammil Shaikh, Sohail Shaikh and Zamir Shaikh. They got punishment for charges ranging from preparing the electrical circuits for the bombs to providing logistics.

On July 11, 2006, seven blasts tore through the first-class compartments of crowded local trains in a span of 11 minutes during the evening peak hours. The blasts, triggered in a synchronised way, occurred between Khar Road-Santacruz, Bandra-Khar Road, Jogeshwari-Mahim Junction, Mira Road- Bhayander, Matunga- Mahim Junction and Borivali.

According to investigators, around 20kg of RDX were packed into five-litre pressure cookers, placed in bags. 

The anti-terrorism squad (ATS) said the suspects were linked to the banned Students Islamic Movement of India and were helped by Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

A chargesheet filed by the ATS in November 2006 named 30 people but four Indian suspects and all 13 Pakistani accused, including key conspirator and LeT commander Azam Cheema, are on the run.