7/11 blast: Chargesheet against 13 accused filed

Mumbai, Nov 30: Mumbai Police today filed chargesheet against 13 accused arrested by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in connection with the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai on July 11 this year.

ATS submitted a common chargesheet running into 10,667 pages before Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) judge M R Bhatkar this evening exactly 142 days after the incident.

All the 13 accused- Kamal Ahamed Ansari, Dr Tanvir Ahmed Ansari, Mohd Faisal Shaikh, Ehtesham Siddiqui, Mohammad Majid Shafi, Shaikh alam Shaikh, Mohd Sajid Ansari, Abdul Wahid Shaikh, Muzzammil Shaikh, Soheil Mehmood Shaikh, Zamir Ahmad Shaikh, Naveed Hussain Khan and Asif Khan Junaid- have also been handed over copies of the chargesheet.

There are a total of 28 accused in this case. Thirteen have been apprehended, while 15 have allegedly fled to Pakistan.

Special Public Prosecutor today moved a miscellaneous application before the court seeking permission to continue the investigation of the case and will file a supplementary chargesheet since 15 persons are wanted in this case in which the court granted permission.

ATS also submitted 26 volumes of original documents in a trunk before the court.

Meanwhile, MCOCA court today extended the judicial custody of all the 13 alleged accused arrested in connection with July 11 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai suburban trains till December 14. DCP Naval Bajaj of ATS later told reporters that we have filed the chargesheet in advance which contains 30 sections which included various sections of MCOCA act, 302, 307, 326, 325, 324, 427, 436, 121-A, 123, 124-A, 120-B of Indian Penal Code, Indian explosives Act, Explosive Substances Act, Prevention of damage to public property act and Indian Railways act.

He said that Azam Chima alongwith 14 others are wanted in thiscase. Of the 14 wanted, Aslam, Hafizulla, Saabir, Abu Baker, Kasam Ali, Aminu Jaan, Ehsanullah, Abu Hasan are all Pakistani nationals while Rizwan Daware, Md Sahil Shaikh, Abdul Razak, Sohail Shaikh, Hafi Jubair and Abdul Rahman are operating from various neighbouring countries.

A total of 2,037 witnesses will be examined during the course of the trial, some of whom had in fact, ''seen the bombers get into the trains and alight,'' said the ATS officer.

He said that deadly blasts in seven first class compartments of Mumbai's local trains during the evening of July 11 ended up killing 187 persons and injuring 817 others. Three injured persons in this incident are still in unconscious condition, he added.

Bajaj said that we have filed the chargesheet well in advance as the first arrest took place on July 20 and the last arrest on October three.

All the arrested persons have retracted their confessional statements given to the ATS before the MCOCA judge saying that the statements were given under duress.

UNI

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7/11 Mumbai bomb blast