Nine years after the July 11, 2006 serial blasts on Mumbai local trains that left 189 dead and hundreds injured, five persons were sentenced to death while seven others were given life terms by a special court here on Wednesday. On September 11, a special MCOCA court had convicted 12 of the 13 accused. The prosecution had demanded death penalty for eight of the 12.
Delivering the verdict, Special Designated Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) Judge YatinD Shinde pronounced capital punishment for Kamal Ahamed Ansari (37), MohdFaisal Shaikh (36), Ehtesham Siddiqui (30),Naveed Hussain Khan (30) and Asif Khan (38), all of them bomb planters.
The remaining seven, who were spared the noose, are Tanvir Ahmed Ansari (37),Mohammad Majid Shafi (32), Shaikh Alam Shaikh (41), Mohd Sajid Ansari (34), MuzzammilShaikh (27), Soheil Mehmood Shaikh (43) and Zamir Ahmad Shaikh (36).
The blasts had ripped the suburban trains within a span of 10 minutes between KharRoad-Santacruz, Bandra-Khar Road, Jogeshwari-Mahim Junction, Mira Road- Bhayander,Matunga- Mahim Junction and Borivali.
The accused were found guilty of charges under IPC, Explosives Act, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act and Indian Railway Act and those under MCOCA.
The court also found all the 12 accused guilty under Section 3 (1) (i) of MCOCA, which attracts capital punishment.
They were found guilty of planting bombs in local trains which exploded at various stations during peak hours causing panic among the commuters returning home from work.
All the 12 convicts had earlier requested the trial court to not award them death sentence on humanitarian grounds as arguments started on the quantum of punishment for one of the deadliest terror attacks on Indian soil.Defence lawyers subsequently examined nine witnesses to show the court that the accused have undergone reformation and and thus may not be given capital punishment.After the examination of witnesses, the defence advocates had pleaded leniency, saying that the 12 convicts were merely the pawns of mastermind Cheema.The defence advocates also pointed out that the convicts have faced several hardships in jail and that was also one of the mitigating circumstances.
However , all of them were found guilty of planting the bombs. “They shall be hanged by their necks till they are dead,” the court ruled. The collective fine slapped on them was Rs 71.45 lakh.
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