The investigation for 7/11 blast in which 189 people died was under question mark from the very first month after the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad started arresting the accused from different parts of city. Within 10 days of blast by July 22, 2006, ATS arrested all the 13 terror accused in the case under the leadership of ATS chief, K P Raghuvanshi.
Special Public Prosecutor Raja Thakare said that he would not pray for death at all.
"Considering their role, eight convicts deserve death penalty," the prosecution told the court.
In its verdict, the court had held 12 other accused guilty of various charges. Arguments for the quantum of sentence are likely to begin on Monday.
Nine years after seven RDX bombs kept in Mumbai suburban trains exploded killing 188 people, a Special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court is likely to pronounce its verdict on Friday.
The 7/11 judgment doesn't render justice to those who died in the blasts or to those who have been convicted for it, kin of one of the convicts tells Prasanna D Zore.
A Special MCOCA court has convicted 12 of the 13 accused in the July 11, 2006 Mumbai suburban train bombings in which 188 people were killed.
Pronouncing the verdict, the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court judge Yatin Shinde sentenced to death Faisal Sheikh, Asif Khan, Kamal Ansari, Ehtesham Sidduqui and Naveed Khan who planted the bombs in various trains.
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.
The case took a twist when the defence lawyer sought to call Indian Mujahideen co-founder Sadiq Sheikh as a defence witness after he told the police in 2008 that IM members were responsible for all the blasts that had occurred in India since 2005 including the July 11, 2006 train blasts.
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.
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