Updates: Mumbai 7/11 blasts verdict: 5 get death penalty, 7 get life imprisonment

Mumbai, Sept 30: The Special MCOCA court on Wednesday, Sept 30, awarded death sentences to five persons who were convicted in the 7/11 Mumbai serial train blasts.

The Special court judge, Y Shinde also sentenced 7 persons to life imprisonment in the case.

Here are all the latest updates on the much awaited verdict:

12.50 pm: List of persons who got life term: Tanvir Ahmed Ansari (37), Mohammad Majid Shafi (32), Shaikh Alam Shaikh (41), Mohd Sajid Ansari (34), Muzzammil Shaikh (27), Soheil Mehmood Shaikh (43), Zamir Ahmad Shaikh (36).

12.45 pm: List of persons who got death sentence: Kamal Ansari, Faizal Shaikh, Ethesham Siddiqui, Naved Hussain and Asif Bashir Khan.

12.30 pm: Legal battle to continue

The death sentences awarded to the five bomb planters in the 7/11 Mumbai serial train blasts case will now have to be confirmed by the High Court. The special court today awarded death sentences to five persons while sentencing 7 others to life imprisonment in the case.

The next legal battle would be before the Bombay High Court and the defence will argue for reduction of sentences for all the accused in the case. The prosecution may however argue for enhancement of sentence for the three persons who it had sought death penalty for, but life terms were handed out by the special court today.

The special court had convicted 12 accused while acquitting one in the case. Kamal Ahamed Ansari (37), Tanvir Ahmed Ansari (37), Mohd Faisal Shaikh (36), Ehtesham Siddiqui (30), Mohammad Majid Shafi (32), Shaikh Alam Shaikh (41), Mohd Sajid Ansari (34), Muzzammil Shaikh (27), Soheil Mehmood Shaikh (43), Zamir Ahmad Shaikh (36), Naveed Hussain Khan (30) and Asif Khan (38) had been convicted in the case. Abdul Wahid Shaikh was the sole accused in the case to be acquitted.

The judgment on the quantum of the sentence which was pronounced today marks the end of a lengthy trial which commenced in the year 2007. There were over 5,000 pages of depositions made by the witnesses in the case. The case would however not end here and there are still two more rounds of appeals which would come up before the High Court and the Supreme Court.

12.15 pm: The special MCOCA court had earlier convicted 12 persons and acquitted one in the 7/11 serial blasts case in which 188 persons had died and 829 were injured. A series of seven blasts ripped through the local trains of Mumbai in the year 2006.

The special public prosecutor in the case had sought death sentences for 8 persons in the case and life terms for four. However the court today awarded death sentences to 7 while handing out a life term to seven others in the case.

The prosecution had sought death sentence for Ehtesham Sidduiqui, Asif Khan, Faisal Shaikh, Naveed Khan and Kamal Ansari. The prosecution had termed them as merchants of death.

OneIndia News