Mumbai was hit by a series of blasts, seven in all on July 11th, 2006. Nearly 817 people were injured and 189 died in this gory incident. The effective action of the Anti-Terrorist squad resulted in arrest of three people and the incident was suspected to be a mastermind of the Lashker-e-Taiba, ISI and SIMI. With course of time, almost 12 people were pointed out for their role in the serial blasts. Now these 12 people are facing sentence by a Mumbai special court, Monday, Sept 14th.
Judge Yatin D Shinde at the Special Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act court has booked the 12 men under charges of conspiracy, murder and instigating war-like activities against the country and they will face a life term in prison, or may be convicted with execution.
On July 11th, 2006, seven serial blasts had raised shackles in Mumbai and had torn the bodies of people travelling in local trains of Mumbai, into smithereens within a time span of 11 minutes. The Mumbai train blasts took place between Bandra-Khar Road, Khar Road-Santacruz, Mira Road- Bhayander, Jogeshwari-Mahim Junction, Borivali and Matunga- Mahim Junction and all this happened at the time when people return home from their offices.
Abdul Wahid Shaikh , one of the criminals who was accused of opening his home to the Pakistani Nationals has been acquitted by the authorities. The probe of the blasts had been carried out under the guidance of KP Raghuvanshi, the former chief of the anti-terrorism squad (ATS), and he states “I think this is justice for all the people who died and those who were injured. The lawyer of the convicts is already planning to take the case for an appeal to a higher court, to get the rest of the suspects freed”.
Pressure cookers filled with RDX were hidden inside bags and covered by newspapers and umbrellas in the unguarded but jam packed local trains. Almost 20 KGs of these explosives were used by seven teams to carry out this hideous task. Each team had a Pakistani National and an Indian, and the bombs were transported to Church gate station by taxis by them.
A link between the terrorists and Students Islamic Movement of India that has been banned is suspected. These blasts had led to a halt in the talks between New Delhi and Islamabad which were an endeavor to calm relations between the two countries. Helping the suspects and the Students Islamic movement of India, was the dreaded Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the Pakistan based terrorist group.
Mohammed Sadiq Israr Shaikh, the Indian Mujahideen co-founder had admitted to the blasts with his IM team , and this triggered the controversy into action. He retracted his statement later on but the probe started.
