Mumbai, Sept. 30: A special court in Mumbai today sentenced to death five of the 12 men who had been convicted in the July 2006 commuter train bombings that killed 189 and wounded 800.
The remaining seven convicted were given life terms by the court, set up to try the accused under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
RDX bombs had gone off on the first-class coaches of seven Mumbai local trains during the evening peak hour on July 11, 2006. Within minutes, death and devastation had raced down the commuter spinal cord between Khar Road-Santacruz, Bandra-Khar Road, Jogeshwari-Mahim Junction, Mira Road-Bhayander, Matunga-Mahim Junction and Borivali.
Judge Y.D. Shinde awarded the death penalty to Kamal A. Ansari, 37, Ehtesham Siddiqui, 30, Faisal Attaur Rehman Sheikh, 36, Asif Khan alias Junaid, 38, and Naved Hussain Khan, 30, for committing murder and criminal conspiracy under Sections 302 and 120B of the IPC, respectively.
The convicts awarded life in jail are Tanvir A. Ansari, 37 (a physician), Mohammed Sajid Ansari, 34, Sheikh Mohammed Ali Alam Sheikh, 40, Mohammed Majid Shafi, 30, Muzammil Sheikh, 27, Sohail Mohammed Sheikh, 43, and Zamir Ahmed Sheikh, 36.
In the 1993 Bombay blasts, 11 people were initially sentenced to death. However, in the Supreme Court, the death sentence was limited to Yakub Memon, who was hanged on July 30 this year.
All the 12 sentenced today will appeal in Bombay High Court, said defence lawyer Sharif Shekh.
"These men have been falsely implicated by the ATS (anti-terrorism squad). We shall appeal in Bombay High Court. All those ATS officers who have fabricated evidence in this case will go behind bars," the lawyer said.
K.P. Raghuvanshi, who had investigated the case as the then chief of the Mumbai ATS, welcomed the judgment.
Abdul Wahid Sheikh, a teacher and the lone accused acquitted after the trial, stood outside the court premises today with relatives of the convicted 12, assuring them of his support in their legal battle.
"A higher court will acquit them," Wahid told The Telegraph.
After the 12 men were convicted on September 11, Wahid - along with Ataurrehman Sheikh whose elder son Faisal Sheikh was sentenced to death and his younger son Muzammil to life in jail - had met Abbas Parmar, Zahid and Naseem Shakir Merchant, some of those affected by the blasts, seeking their support in the legal battle.
Parmar was injured in the blast and then hounded by the police while Zahid and Merchant had lost their fathers in the terror attack.
The relatives of the accused had also also met the family of Parag Sawant, who was injured in the blast but succumbed to his injuries after battling for life for nine years.
The legal expenses of the accused had been borne by the legal cell of the Jamiat Ulema, which will also support the convicted 12 in filing appeal in higher courts.
Azam Cheema, the prime accused who is considered a Pakistan national and Lashkar-e-Toiba operative, is among the 17 who escaped.
Thirteen of the absconders are Pakistanis. One Salim, said to be a Pakistani national, was killed in the blasts.
