ATS files charge sheet in 13/7 blast case

MUMBAI: Almost a year after three bomb blasts shook the city killing 27 people and injuring many others, ATS today filed a 4000-page charge sheet in a special MCOCA court against four accused in the case.

The four accused, Naquee Ahmed, Nadeem Shaikh, Kanwar Pathrija and Haroon Naik, are facing trial under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), IPC and other laws.

A copy of the confession given by Nadeem before a Magistrate has also been filed in the court.

Five others accused belonging to Indian Mujahideen, including Waqas, Tabrez and Yasin Bhatkal, who are suspected to have played a key role in engineering the blasts, are absconding.

According to the ATS, Bhatkal, Waqas and Tarbez had rented a third floor flat in Byculla's Habib building where they allegedly assembled explosives before triggering blasts at Dadar, Zaveri Bazaar and Opera House.

The 2011 bombings were a series of three coordinated bomb explosions at different locations in the peak evening hours. The blasts occurred at Opera House, Zaveri Bazaar, and Dadar West, leaving 27 dead and 130 injured.

Forensic experts, who had collected samples from the terror sites, had initially opined that ammonium nitrate mixed with fuel oil was used in the explosives while digital timers were used to execute the blasts.

As the probe progressed, ATS officials had stumbled upon the Byculla flat where the suspects had hidden and assembled the explosives. Forensic experts subsequently had collected various articles including a computer and clothes of the inmates of the Byculla room for examination.