Mumbai train blasts: RDX or pressure cookers? Unanswered questions remain about 6 minutes of terror, even after nearly two decades

The 2006 Mumbai train blasts case remains deeply contentious, owing to conflicting investigative claims made by different agencies over the years. While the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) held that the blasts were carried out by operatives of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) with support from Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the Mumbai Crime Branch, two years later, claimed the attacks were the work of an Indian Mujahideen (IM) module it had busted.

In just 6 minutes on July 11, 2006, coordinated bomb blasts ripped through 7 Mumbai local trains, killing 187 and injuring over 800. Nearly 19 years later, the Bombay High Court acquitted all accused, stating the prosecution had “utterly failed” to prove its case. The 2015 convictions, including 5 death sentences, stand overturned.

Pressure cookers: Not in FIR, but introduced in trial

As per ToI, the ATS chargesheet initially only mentioned that household utensils were used in the attacks. The use of pressure cookers was introduced during the trial stage. The theory raised concerns as the shopkeeper who had allegedly sold eight pressure cookers was never called for a test identification parade, nor were suspect sketches created and circulated based on his inputs.


The Bombay High Court, in its judgment acquitting the accused, observed that aside from the recovery of some pressure cookers and accessories at the instance of one accused, there was no mention of these items in his statement.

In another accused’s statement, there was a reference to the use of RDX and timers, but again, no mention of pressure cookers.

Crime Branch points to IM involvement

In 2008, the Mumbai Crime Branch, then led by Rakesh Maria, arrested Sadiq Shaikh for the Delhi and Ahmedabad blasts. Shaikh, described as a member of IM, allegedly told officials that the Indian Mujahideen was responsible for all the major blasts, including the 2006 Mumbai train bombings.

While the trial court eventually convicted the accused based on the ATS case and rejected the defence’s claim of IM involvement, multiple sources cited by ToI said this line of investigation continued to develop.

IM had claimed blasts in emails: Sources

Sources told ToI that parallel investigations by the Delhi Police Special Cell and the interrogation of IM co-founder Yasin Bhatkal also pointed to IM’s role in the train blasts. According to these sources, IM had claimed responsibility for the Mumbai blasts in an email sent to media outlets in November 2007, along with claims for three other attacks.

The Delhi Police publicly reiterated this after arresting IM’s elusive co-founder Abdul Subhan Qureshi, alias Tauqeer, on January 20, 2018. Qureshi was known to sign IM’s post-attack emails as ‘al-Arabi’.

Atif Amin, Batla House link, and pressure cooker signature

The Delhi Police further said that both Bhatkal and Shaikh disclosed the role of Atif Amin, who was allegedly sent to Mumbai to execute the train bombings with others later traced to the Batla House encounter in Delhi in 2008. According to one officer quoted by ToI, “The use of pressure cooker bombs was another IM signature style at the time.”

LeT or IM? Officers point to turf tensions

Senior police officers in Mumbai told ToI that the conflicting claims—LeT by the ATS and IM by the Crime Branch—might have been a case of inter-departmental rivalry or one-upmanship.

Immediately after the 2006 train blasts, then Mumbai Police Commissioner A N Roy declared at a press conference that pressure cookers were used and the attack bore the hallmark of LeT.

Ahmedabad link brings Crime Branch into case

Initially, the Mumbai Crime Branch wasn’t involved in the train blast probe. That changed after a 2008 blast in Ahmedabad when a vehicle stolen from Navi Mumbai was found parked outside a civil hospital there.

Through CCTV footage, police traced the theft to Afzal Usmani. Investigators discovered he had stolen four vehicles from Navi Mumbai, all of which were used in the Ahmedabad attack. This led to the arrests of Sadiq Shaikh and other IM members.

Shaikh’s statement spanned multiple attacks

In his initial statement, Shaikh claimed that he, Riyaz Bhatkal, Arif Badruddin Shaikh, Atif Amin, and Shahnawaz carried out the 2006 Mumbai train blasts, as well as attacks in Delhi’s Mominpura, Varanasi’s Sankatmochan Mandir, and the Shramjeevi Express. He said they acted on instructions from a handler named Amir Raza.

According to Shaikh, Raza sent explosives through Riyaz Bhatkal or his associates, while Arif Badruddin prepared the clock-timer circuits. Shaikh claimed he, Badruddin, Bhatkal, and Amin had all received training in assembling bombs and circuits.

However, ToI reports that the trial court found these statements “vague” and ultimately dismissed them as unreliable.

With inputs from ToI