2006 Mumbai train blasts: Bombay High Court acquits all 12 accused, bench says prosecution "utterly failed to prove the case"

2006 Mumbai train blasts: The Bombay High Court on Monday acquitted all 12 accused in the 2006 train blast case, declaring them innocent.

The Special bench of Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak overturned the lower court's order saying that the prosecution utterly failed to prove case against them. Five months ago the HC had reserved the matter for judgment.

"The prosecution has utterly failed to prove the case against the accused. It is hard to believe that the accused committed the crime. Hence their conviction is quashed and set aside," the HC said.


The bench said it refuses to confirm the death penalty imposed on five of the convicts and also the life imprisonment on the remaining seven, and acquitted them. The court said the accused shall be released from jail forthwith if not wanted in any other case.

The bench in its judgment also drew an adverse inference on the prosecution for failing to examine important witnesses in the case and also for poor and improper sealing and maintenance of the recovered items - explosives and circuit boxes allegedly used to assemble the bombs.

"The prosecution has failed to even bring on record the type of bombs used in the alleged crime. Hence, the evidence of recovery is not sufficient to prove the offence against the accused," it said.

The HC also discarded the alleged confessional statements of some of the accused in the case and said they seem to have been taken after torture was inflicted upon them.

"The confessional statements are found to be incomplete and not truthful as some parts are a copy-paste of each other. The accused persons have proved their case that torture was inflicted at the time," the bench said.

The court also discarded the test identification parade of the accused, noting the police concerned who conducted it had no authority to do so.

The HC also refused to accept the evidence given by witnesses, that included taxi drivers who drove the accused to Churchgate railway station, those who saw the accused plant a bomb, those who were witness to bombs being assembled and those who were witness to the alleged conspiracy.

"The witness statements are not credible or trustworthy and conclusive to convict the accused. The evidence is not safe to rely on and the defence has succeeded in shattering the same," it said.
The HC said witnesses identified the accused before the police during the identification parade four months after the incident and then in court four years later.

"These witnesses did not have enough opportunity to have seen the accused on the day of the incident to identify them correctly later. We do not find any such reasons to trigger their memory and recollect the faces," it said.

The 7/11 blasts

On July 11, 2006, A series of bombs ripped through seven western suburban coaches of a train, killing 189 commuters and injuring 824. The trial court had in 2015 sentenced five to death and seven to life imprisonment.

The convicts 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. However, the HC has now acquitted the accused.

Life term was awarded to 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. One of the accused, Wahid Shaikh, was acquitted by the trial court after nine years in jail.

Meanwhile, Ansari, one of the convicts on death row, died due to Covid-19 in Nagpur prison in 2021.

In July 2024, the HC constituted a special bench led by Justice Kilor, which conducted regular hearings for nearly six months

The lawyers representing the convicts argued that their “extra-judicial confessional statements” obtained by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) through “torture” were inadmissible under the law.

They also argued that the accused were falsely implicated, innocent and were languishing in jail for 18 years without substantial evidence and their prime years were gone in incarceration. The appellants said that the trial court erred in convicting them and therefore the said order be set aside.

Who were the 12 accused?

A list of the accused who were convicted and on death row:

Kamal Ahmed Ansari: Died in 2021 pending hearing of the appeal at the age of 50. Ansari was a resident of Madhubani district in Bihar and was accused of receiving arms training in Pakistan. He was also accused of planting the bomb that exploded at Matunga.

Mohammed Faisal Rahman Shaikh: The 50-year-old accused from Mira Road in neighbouring Thane district was accused of being one of the main conspirators. As per prosecution, he had obtained money from Pakistan, assembled bombs and planted one of them in a train.

Ehtesham Siddiqui: Aged 42, Siddiqui was accused of carrying out a recce of the trains and planting the bomb that went off at Mira-Bhayandar.

Naveed Hussain Khan Rasheed: Aged 44, Rasheed, a call centre employee at the time, was accused of assembling bombs and planting one that exploded in a train at Bandra. He was a resident of Secunderabad and was arrested from there.

Asif Khan Bashir Khan: The 52-year-old was accused of helping assemble the bombs and planting one that exploded at Borivali. A civil engineer, Khan was a resident of Jalgaon and accused to be a key member of SIMI.

List of accused who were sentenced to life imprisonment:

Tanveer Ahmed Ansari: Resident of Agripada in Mumbai, the 50-year-old was convicted for attending terror camps in Pakistan and also conducting a recce of the trains.

Mohammed Shafi: Aged 46, Shafi was accused of running a hawala racket and procuring money from Pakistan for the blasts.

Shaikh Mohammed Ali Alam: The 55-year-old was charged with assembling bombs at his house in suburban Govandi with the help of Pakistanis who had sneaked into India. He was also accused of being a member of SIMI.

Mohammed Sajid Ansari: The 47-year-old resident of Mira Road was accused of procuring timers for the bombs and helping assemble them. He was also accused of harbouring two Pakistani nationals.

Muzammil Rahman Shaikh: The 40-year-old youngest accused in the case, a software engineer, was accused of getting trained in Pakistan and also conducting recce of the local trains.
His brothers, Faisal and Raahil, are also accused in the case but were never caught. They were allegedly the main planners of the conspiracy.

Suhail Mehmood Shaikh: Aged 55, Shaikh was accused of having taken arms training in Pakistan and also carrying out a recce of the trains to be targeted.

Zameer Rehman Shaikh: The 50-year-old was accused of attending conspiracy meetings and also receiving training in Pakistan.

(With inputs from agencies)