Two persons were killed and 31 people, including a child and three women, were wounded in a blast at Ghatkopar on Monday.\n\n\n\n\n\n
Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal, arrested from the Indo-Nepal border in north Bihar, is wanted in several blast cases being probed by the National Investigation Agency and state police forces. His name had come up in connection with the explosion outside Delhi high court on September 7, 2011 in which 12 people were killed.
With the conviction of Bhoinkar, Abbas and Shahjahan, the total number of accused found guilty has risen to 35.
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.
Relatives and victims felt that justice had been delayed.
Yakub Memon, a convict in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts, is likely to be executed on July 30 if the Supreme Court turns down his mercy plea. It will be the first execution in the serial blasts, which left over 250 dead.
Gangster Anmol Bishnoi had ordered the hit on Nationalist Congress Party leader Baba Siddique for his 'association with Dawood Ibrahim and involvement in the 1993 Bombay blasts', alleged main shooter Shivkumar Gautam in his confessional statement to the police.
Trial in the 2003 Gateway of India and Ghatkopar bomb blast case commenced in a POTA court in Mumbai on Tuesday with an approver identifying the 5 accused in the court as members of Lashkar-e-Toiba and the brain behind the explosions.
Thirty other accused, lodged in central prison, were, however, produced before the court.
Three blasts took place in span of 15 minutes and considering the locations of the three sites, investigators are not ruling out the possibility of a safe house in Mumbai where the terrorists would have rigged the three bombs and then proceeded to place them at the three sites.
'It could be an entirely new LeT module that has entered Mumbai with the specific assignment of executing yesterday's blasts,' officials said
Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal said: "We think it is a new group of Lashkar-e-Tayiba. Within a few days, the culprits will be tracked down.
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.
Sadhvi Pragya had moved the court earlier this month seeking her discharge in the Malegoan bomb blast case.
Almost a year after three bomb blasts shook the city killing 27 people and injuring many others, the Anti-Terrorism Squad filed a 4,000-page charge sheet in a special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court against four accused in the case. The four accused -- Naquee Ahmed, Nadeem Shaikh, Kanwar Pathrija and Haroon Naik -- are facing trial under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, Indian Penal Code and other laws.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad has arrested a close associate of Indian Mujahideen's elusive chief operative Yasin Bhatkal in connection with the 13/7 serial bomb blasts case, taking the total number of arrests to five.
The arrest has nothing to do with the Mumbai bomb blasts case.
Both have been found guilty of conspiracy.
Disposing of the plea on August 1, special judge AK Lahoti, however, noted the contentions raised by the accused are kept open and he is at liberty to point them out at the time of final hearing.
The government on Wednesday said the Indian economic growth story is intact and a dastardly act like the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai on Tuesday will not break the country's resolve to move forward.
The Shiv Sena on Monday alleged that the Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Thakur was being tortured by the Mumbai police and that she had stopped partaking food for the last eight days.
As the political turmoil in Maharashtra continues to unfold, rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shide spoke to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray about the recent political situation in the state, confirmed MNS leader on Monday.
Two close associates of absconding prime accused Tiger Memon were among four men held guilty by a court in Mumbai on Friday for their role in the 1993 bomb blasts in Mumbai that killed 257 people.
Abu Bakar, Saiyad Qureshi, Mohammad Shoeb Qureshi alias Shoeb Bawa and Mohammad Yusuf Ismail alias Yusuf Bhatka, all residents of Mumbai, were on the run for 29 years.
Top Lashkar-e-Tayiba bomb expert Abdul Karim Tunda, one of the 20 terrorists India had asked Pakistan to hand over after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, on Friday withdrew his bail petition filed before a Delhi court.
The National Investigation Agency on Saturday formally arrested key accused in 2007 Samjhauta Express blast case, Lokesh Sharma, in connection with the 2006 Malegaon bomb blasts case.
Chaos reigned at various hospitals in Mumbai with over 80 injured people being rushed for treatment after serial bomb blasts rocked the metropolis on Wednesday evening.
A public interest litigation has been filed in the Bombay high court demanding that the probe into the July 13 triple bomb blasts in the metropolis be handed over to a Central agency, such as the National Investigation Agency or the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Dutt had sought exemption from a prison term, after being found guilty by the court of illegal possession of firearms.
The probe into the blast in Goa, which was triggered in October, has been handed over to the National Investigation Agency for a thorough enquiry as it was emerging that links to the crime, alleged to have been carried out by Hindu extremists, were found in other states as well.
