Twelve persons, arrested in 2006 for their involvement in the July 11, 2006 serial train blasts case, were acquitted by the Bombay high court on Monday.
The Bombay High Court acquitted all 12 accused in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case, citing a failure by the prosecution to prove their guilt and raising serious concerns about the investigation and evidence presented.
On Wednesday, the special MCOCA court in Mumbai awarded death sentences to Kamal Ahamed Ansari, 37, Mohd Faisal Shaikh, 36, Ehtesham Siddiqui, 30, Naveed Hussain Khan, 30 and Asif Khan, 38, for the role they played in the 7/11 Mumbai train blasts, which claimed the lives of 188 people.
"Considering their role, eight convicts deserve death penalty," the prosecution told the court.
'He is the key to unravel the 26/11 conspiracy.'
Seven years after the Mumbai serial train blasts in which nearly 200 people were killed and over 700 injured, the trial in the case is still going on with the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court recording the statements of the accused. "The court is now recording the statement of the accused who wanted to depose as a defence witness in the case," said advocate Sherif Sheikh, appearing for some of the accused in the case
All 12 convicts found guilty in the case relating to the July 11, 2006 serial train blasts, which claimed 188 lives in local trains in Mumbai, have pleaded leniency in the court on the point of sentence citing humanitarian grounds.
Three persons with alleged "ideological leaning" towards the banned JeM were arrested in New Delhi for planning terror strikes in different parts of the national capital.
13 persons were picked up by the Special Cell after a late night operation on Tuesday. Of them, three -- Sajid, Sameer Ahmed, and Shakir Ansari -- have been arrested, four let off and six are still being questioned by the investigators.
While Ayodhya resembled a city under seige earlier during the day, the scene was no different elsewhere in the state with police and central forces keeping an eye over the security situation and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath personally monitoring it from a hi-tech control room in the state capital.
A Mumbai court trying the case of Lashkar-e-Taiba operative and 26/11 key handler Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, on issued non-bailable warrant against 12 more accused in the Mumbai terror attacks case.
