An engineer, a call centre operative and more… The 12 men now acquitted in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts

Eleven minutes — that’s all it took to shake India’s financial capital. On July 11, 2006, seven bombs packed in pressure cookers tore through first-class coaches on the city’s suburban train line, turning evening commutes into carnage.

The explosions at Mumbai’s Mahim, Bandra, Khar, Jogeshwari, Borivali, Matunga Road and Mira Road resulted in the deaths of 188 people, and injuring another 700.

Nineteen years later, the Bombay High Court has made an unprecedented move; Justices Anil S Kilor and Shyam C Chandak have
acquitted all 12 accused in the case — five of them were on death row — noting the evidence provided by the prosecution wasn’t sufficient to convict them.

What exactly happened in the 2006 train blasts? Who are the 12 accused who have been let off and more importantly, why?

11 minutes of terror unfold in Mumbai

July 11, 2006 was like any other day in Mumbai. Working men and women had finished a long day’s work and making their way home using the lifeline — the suburban trains. However, at 6.24 pm, serial explosions occurred along the railway line, continuing until 6.35 pm.

Following the explosions, investigators found that the bombs were concealed inside pressure cookers filled with high-grade RDX and ammonium nitrate. Forensics revealed that the explosives were designed to rupture metal and flesh. These bombs were detonated using sophisticated timers, ensuring coordinated chaos.

In the days following the blast, Maharashtra’s ATS began a long-winding investigation, which included the examination of 250 witnesses, studying hundreds of documents, maps and phone records. At the end of it all, in 2015, a trial court convicted 12 people in the blasts — the special court of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act sentenced Kamal Ansari, Faisal Sheikh, Asif Khan, Ehtesham Sidduqui and Naveed Khan to death. Seven other convicts Mohammed Sajid Ansari, Mohammed Ali, Dr Tanveer Ansari, Majid Shafi, Muzzammil Shaikh, Sohail Shaikh and Zamir Shaikh were sentenced to life imprisonment for being part of the conspiracy.

From sentenced to acquitted — the 12 men involved

Following the sentencing, the 12 convicts filed appeals against their convictions and sentences. And in July 2024, a special bench was constituted to hear the matter on a day-to-day basis.

This resulted in today’s (July 21) development; the court acquitting all 12 of the accused after the “the prosecution utterly failed in establishing the case beyond reasonable doubts”.

But who are these 12 men?

1) Kamal Ansari: Hailing from Bihar, the 50-year-old was found guilty and sentenced to death in the Mumbai 7/11 blasts. He was also of planting the bomb that exploded at Mumbai’s Matunga. Awaiting his death sentence at Nagpur prison, Ansari died in 2021 as a result of contracting Covid-19.

2) Faisal Sheikh: According to the ATS investigation, Sheikh was responsible for the explosion at Jogeshwari station. Authorities revealed that he was a wanted man even before the blasts — he was on the radar since 2004, at a time which he was deported by Saudi Arabia for illegally staying there. After Saudi, he went to Pakistan and reportedly received training at the Bahawalpur terror camp, which is known to be the Jaish-e-Mohammed’s terror hub. “I didn’t want to come to India and wanted to stay in Pakistan and prove my loyalty with Muslims. But my trainers told me that if I wanted to prove my loyalty with Muslims then I should go back to India and avenge the killing of Muslims in hundreds of riots across India,” Faisal has believed to have confessed to the police soon after getting arrested in 2006 in the blast case.

Besides laying the bomb, Sheikh also sent youths to that country for training purpose. He had also attended conspiracy meetings besides giving shelter to Pakistani nationals. He was also sentenced to death in this matter.

3) Asif Khan: Hailing from Maharashtra’s Jalgaon, procured explosive material and planted a bomb, which exploded at Borivali station. Authorities noted that he was an active member of SIMI — the Students Islamic Movement of India, a banned Islamist organisation. After the blasts, Khan fled Mumbai and shifted to Belgaum. He was the last accused to be arrested in the case and later given the death sentence.

4) Ehtesham Sidduqui: At the time of the bombings, Sidduqui, then 30-years-old, was the joint secretary of SIMI, the banned group in India. Hailing from Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur, he came to Maharashtra to pursue his education in engineering. However, he dropped out and soon enrolled in SIMI.

As for his involvement in the blasts, Siddiqui conducted reconnaissance of local trains. He was also present when bombs were made. He planted an explosive in a local train, which exploded at Mira Road station. For this, he was on death row.

5) Naveed Khan: Born in Kuwait, Khan reportedly developed a strong friendship with Faisal Shaikh, who was believed to be responsible for funding the entire blasts. Working as a call centre employee at the time of the blasts, the police stated that he was in contact with all the accused and was the one responsible for placing the bomb that exploded at Khar. He too, was on death row.

6) Mohammed Sajid Ansari: A resident of Mumbai, he was awarded the life sentence in the Mumbai 7/11 blasts for allegedly procuring timers for the bombs and helping to assemble them. He also reportedly harboured two Pakistani nationals at his residence.

7) Mohammed Ali: A resident of Mumbai’s Shivaji Nagar, he was charged with assembling bombs at his house with the help of Pakistanis who had sneaked into India. For this, he was given life imprisonment. According to investigators, he was part of the SIMI group.

8) Dr Tanveer Ansari: A resident of Mumbai, the doctor became a SIMI member and was sentenced to life for his involvement in the Mumbai 7/11 blasts. Authorities note that he received arms training in Pakistan and also surveyed local trains in Mumbai to plan the blasts.

9) Majid Shafi: He arranged for transportation of Pakistani nationals to Mumbai via Bangladesh border and back after the blasts.

10) Muzzammil Shaikh: A software engineer, he received arms training in Pakistan. He surveyed the local trains that were to be bombed. He is the youngest accused in the case. According to an Indian Express report, two of his brothers — Faisal and Raahil — are believed to be the main planners of the conspiracy. Raahil was never caught.

11) Sohail Shaikh: Sentenced to life, a resident of Pune, he reportedly received arms training in Pakistan and surveyed the trains to be targeted. He also received hawala money from absconding accused, Rizwan Dhaware for the execution of the blasts.

12) Zamir Shaikh: A Mumbai resident, he surveyed local trains and helped assemble the bombs. He received life imprisonment for his involvement in the blasts.

Reasons for court to acquit them

But why exactly did the court acquit these 12 in the Mumbai blasts case? There are a number of reasons why high court bench of Justice Anil Kilor and Justice Shyam Chandak overturned the trial court’s judgment.

The high court pointed out serious flaws in the prosecution’s case; they noted that key witnesses in the blasts were unreliable, identification parades that were held with authority and confessional statements were tortured out of the accused.

In its judgment, the high court noted, “The defence had raised serious questions about the test identification parade. Many witnesses remained silent for unusually long periods, some over four years, and then suddenly identified the accused. This is abnormal. Hence, their conviction is quashed and set aside.

“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,” it added.

The high court also slammed the prosecution for failing to examine crucial witnesses. For instance, the court found that the testimony provided by the taxi drivers who drove the accused to Churchgate were “not trustworthy” and “cannot be made basis for the conviction”.

It also questioned the handling of the evidence; in the matter of “recoveries like RDX and other explosive material, the prosecution could not establish that the evidence was sacrosanct until it reached the Forensic Science Laboratory,” the bench said.

With inputs from agencies