Charges framed in Mumbai blasts cases of 2002-2003

MUMBAI: Twelve years after blasts rocked the city between December 2002 and March 2003, the special Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court today framed charges against 16 accused.

Saquib Nachan, an alleged member of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), is one of the main accused.

"The court has framed the charges against all the accused including Nachan and all of them pleaded innocent," said special public prosecutor Rohini Salian.

In a combined chargesheet filed in the Mulund, Vile Parle and Mumbai Central blast cases, police have charged the accused with offences under POTA, Explosive Substances Act and offences of `preparation to wage war against the nation' and criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code.

The Mulund blast occurred on March 13, 2003, killing 12 and injuring 71. Earlier, on December 6, 2002, several persons were injured in the blast at McDonald's at Mumbai Central station, while a person died when a bomb attached to a cycle exploded in a market area in suburban Vile Parle on January 27, 2003.