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The Print
an hour ago
- Politics
- The Print
HC acquittal verdict shocking, no witch hunt in probe: Ex-Mumbai top cop A N Roy on 7/11 case
Roy headed the city police force when the blasts occurred on July 11, 2006, while the probe in the terror attack was handled by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). He said the police only chargesheeted the people who had a 'core role' in the blasts, and said there was no 'witch hunt' involved. Mumbai, Jul 22 (PTI) Former Mumbai police commissioner A N Roy on Tuesday expressed shock over the the Bombay High Court's acquittal of all 12 accused in the 7/11 train blasts case, saying the probe in the case was conducted in a professional manner where evidence was collected 'honestly and truthfully'. More than 180 people were killed when seven blasts ripped through Mumbai local trains at various locations on the western line. Nineteen years later, the Bombay High Court on Monday acquitted all 12 accused, saying the prosecution utterly failed to prove the case and that it was 'hard to believe the accused committed the crime'. Talking to PTI, former Mumbai police chief Roy said, 'I am shocked to see the kind of judgment. But it is a judicial verdict, we accept it respectfully.' 'The relevant department, which is ATS, is studying the judgment. They will take legal opinion. I am sure they will file an appeal in the Supreme Court on that,' he said. The Supreme Court will hear the Maharashtra government's plea against the high court verdict on July 24. Roy reminded that the trial court had sided with the prosecution while giving the harshest sentences to the accused people and added that the apex court of the country will see merit in the case. 'We presented a very good, strong case to the court through the chargesheet,' Roy said, asserting that it was a professionally conducted, thorough investigation where evidence was collected 'honestly and truthfully'. Maintaining that he has not read the judgment delivered on Monday, he said the high court seems to be apprehensive on how witnesses could identify the accused after 100 days and questioned if there was any prescribed procedure that explicitly disallows such a practice. 'There are a number of cases on judicial records where the witnesses have identified the accused after 10 years in the court,' Roy said. Speaking about the delay in the trial, he said the trial went on for several years because the accused kept on moving applications across the legal system and also went up till the Supreme Court for seeking bail or some 'frivolous issues'. They also made allegations of torture, of getting beaten up and forced to confess which consumed time, Roy said, adding that none of these allegations were accepted in the court. Reminiscing about the investigation into the case, the former top cop said officers worked overnight to build the case, after which the trial began. According to the police, members of the proscribed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and other brainwashed youth conspired to bomb the local trains, called as the lifeline of the financial capital, during the peak hour. Bombs assembled inside pressure cookers were put on first-class compartments of the trains. Investigators had claimed that the bombers had travelled with the bombs to south Mumbai's Churchgate after assembling them in distant suburbs, and alighted at railway stations before the timers went off. Roy said, 'We did not do any witch hunt. We only chargesheeted the people who had the core role in the blast.' 'I retired from the service 16 years ago, I was not closely monitoring the court hearings. But I was the police commissioner when the bomb blast happened. I was very closely supervising the investigation and I own up whatever was done in the investigation,' he said on the HC judgement. 'I have accorded the sanction for prosecution under the MCOC Act to all the accused. I stood in the court for 5 days to prove my sanction. Now, after completing the investigation very professionally, very thoroughly, after collecting all the evidence possible to collect, truthfully, honestly presented a very good, strong case to the court through the chargesheet,' he said. Roy said the court took a long time to pronounce the judgment because it was a very voluminous chargesheet, and added that the trial court judgment alone went into 2,000 pages. Every single person's evidence was mentioned there in detail. The evidence brought in by the prosecution side, the cross examination by all the 9 to 10 defence lawyers for every witness is all recorded in that 2,000-page judgement of the trial court, he said. 'All the eyewitnesses, all the witnesses who identified the accused, all the recoveries which were made, all other circumstantial evidence, all of that is mentioned in great detail in that 2,000 page judgement. The police officers who were investigated or played any other role during that – they were all examined and cross-examined,' he said. 'I withstood cross examination for 5 days, morning till evening,' the former police commissioner added. The judgement seems to mention only what the defence lawyers have argued in the high court and saying yes or no to that, Roy said, adding that he found it bizarre. 'We will have to wait for the next verdict. We have got from the trial court's full verdict in our favour. For whatever reason, if the high court has given a contradictory verdict, we accept that as well,' he said. 'We'll go and appeal to the higher court to wait for the final judgement to come. We are very confident that we have a very good case,' he said, adding that they will wait for the final judgement from the Supreme Court. PTI DC NP This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
Hindustan Times
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
How Mumbai police lost the plot on suburban rail blasts
The Mumbai suburban railway bombing, also known as the 7/11 blasts, took place on July 11, 2006. Unfortunately, it took place when we lacked an integrated approach to our intelligence coordination and terror crime investigation. The then Mumbai police commissioner told a security advisory group constituted by the Maharashtra government — of which I was a member — that he had never been given any indication in his meetings with the Intelligence Bureau at the highest level before the attack that the Mumbai suburban railway system was a target. In fact, it seemed that the central intelligence indicated that religious places would be targeted. The 7/11 attacks killed 189 passengers in different trains on the Western Railway in six minutes, compared to 26/11 attacks where the death toll during the 58-hour stand-off stood at 175. An American media report on July 21, 2006, said that the New York Police Department (NYPD) had sent an officer to Mumbai to study the 'simplicity and lethality' of 7/11 attacks, which 'were the equivalent of bombing seven commuter stations between Manhattan and Westchester'. NYPD wanted to understand how the Mumbai suburban attacks were executed with such precision. Post the Twin Tower attacks on September 11, 2001 (9/11), the March 11, 2004, attacks on the commuter railway system in Madrid, and the July 7 London tube bombings, the NYPD had augmented its security network. Therefore, the Mumbai bombings were of interest to it to see what gaps remained. The 7/11 attackers had carried bombs in backpacks common locally, hid these in overhead racks near the exits to enable them to exit the train quickly, and had used timing devices to cause the explosions within 11 minutes to cause the maximum panic, shock, and damage. In sharp contrast, the local investigation into this case was marked by total incompetence, lack of coordination, and confusion. In 2009, I had written in Routledge's annual publication, India's National Security-Annual Review, that the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which originally investigated this case, had charge-sheeted 13 people for 7/11, including four who had undergone training in Pakistan. However, in September 2008, the Mumbai City Crime Branch made a startling claim in a press conference, that they had found evidence of the involvement of Sadiq Shaikh, co-founder of Indian Mujahideen (IM), in these blasts. This claim was fundamentally challenged on May 11, 2009, when the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court discharged Shaikh, finding no evidence against him. Even earlier, the ATS and Mumbai crime branch had publicly differed on many points, with the latter claiming that the bombs for the blasts were assembled in a flat in Sewree and the RDX was procured by IM leader Riyaz Bhatkal even as ATS said that the bombs were assembled in Govandi and RDX was procured by a Pakistani terrorist, Ehsanullah, who had entered India illegally along with 10 accomplices. All this would not have happened had the then Union government set up a central anti-terror agency. Unfortunately, they waited until December 2008 to set up such an agency (the National Investigation Agency, or NIA), after the 26/11 attacks. In September 2015, a special MCOCA court sentenced 12 accused persons, awarding capital punishment to five and life imprisonment to seven for planting the bombs and killing passengers. It is this sentence that was set aside by the Bombay High Court on July 21, 2025 — all 12 convicted by the MCOCA court were acquitted. The special bench had heard the case for the last six months, including appeals by the State and by the convicts. However, an inkling on the course the case would eventually take was available in January this year, from the defence put up by S Muralidhar, former chief justice of the Odisha High Court and now senior advocate, who represented two accused sentenced to life imprisonment. This was reported only in legal journals and not in the mainstream media. Muralidhar had then highlighted the lapses in investigation, especially in obtaining confessional statements of the accused under a special provision of MCOCA, given that the officer who had recorded the confessional statement failed to identify the accused. Muralidhar had told the court: 'This is a very serious legal flaw of the trial court. Thus, this Court should now discard these statements'. He also said that the family and relatives of the accused were tortured physically, just like the accused persons. The HC acquittal on July 21 highlights several lapses like 'cut and paste' confessions made by all the accused persons, custodial torture before the confessions were recorded, and more particularly 'the lack of any reliable material submitted' to grant prior approval to invoke the stringent MCOCA, under which confessions are legally admissible. The Court found no material was provided to the competent authority 'except reproduction of some expressions used in the definition of organised crime'. The court said after examining two confessions recorded on two different dates: 'By any stretch of imagination, it is highly impossible to have the same questions and its sequence in both the statements with the same answers'. This is quite telling of how poorly the investigation was handled by the police, leaving the families of the victims of the blasts and the accused and their families struggling for justice. Law enforcement agencies have a lot to answer. Vappala Balachandran is a former special secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, and was part of the two-member High Level Committee that enquired into the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. The views expressed are personal.
Indian Express
a day ago
- Indian Express
7/11Mumbai train blast: Pune's Suhail Shaikh acquitted by HC: we had lost hope, but he did not, says family
Family members of Pune based Suhail Mehmood Shaikh (55), who was acquitted by the Bombay High Court in the 7/11 Mumbai train blasts on Monday, said they have finally got 'justice'. After the HC verdict, Suhail's younger brother Rahil Shaikh, was in tears. 'I cannot tell you how happy we are. We as a family had lost all hope. But Suhail bhai had not lost hope. He used to say he had faith in the judiciary of India. We have finally got justice,' Rahil told The Indian Express. A metal fabrication worker, Rahil said his brother Suhail has been in Amravati central prison. 'I spoke with him over the phone after the judgement today. He was so happy and emotional at the same time. We are leaving for Amravati tonight. We used to talk to him via video conferencing calls and he was the one who used to tell us to have faith in the system,' he said. Rahil added he lost his parents after Suhail's arrest. 'They left this world waiting for Suhail to get justice,' he said. Rahil said Suhail's wife, three children (a daughter and a son, who are now married, as well as the youngest, a boy) are all eagerly waiting for him to return. 'They suffered a lot. The investigators had taken all their documents including the gas card. The family was publicly humiliated. Even our relatives abandoned us. But the truth has prevailed now,' he said. On the evening of July 11, 2006, seven bombs had exploded in local trains in Mumbai, killing 187 persons and leaving 817 injured. A probe into the terror attacks, termed as the '7/11' Mumbai train blasts, led to the arrest of 13 persons, including Suhail, who was picked up from his Pune residence on July 21. At the time, he worked as a rafoo artisan and tailor to earn a living. He had completed HSC from an English medium school in Pune Camp and also worked as a faith healer, said Rahil. In September 2015, a special court in Mumbai, convicted 12 accused persons, while one was acquitted. The court awarded the death penalty to five accused, while seven others including Suhail were sentenced to imprisonment for life. The Bombay HC Monday acquitted all the accused in this case. 'I am on my way to meet my father and bring him home after so many years,' said Suhail's son Syed Shaikh, who is employed in repairing and installing air conditioners in Pune. Investigators had claimed that the 7/11 train blast strike was allegedly masterminded by wanted accused Azam Chima alias Babaji, a Pakistani operative of terror outfit Lashkar e Taiba (LeT), who indoctrinated and trained SIMI operatives from India for the terror strikes. It was alleged that a wanted SIMI member, Mohammed Faizal Ataur Rehman Shaikh from Pune, had incited Suhail and gave him Rs 1 lakh to go to an LeT training camp. It had been alleged that Suhail was trained in handling arms, ammunition and explosives at an LeT terrorist camp at Muzaffarabad in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Investigators had also alleged that Suhail went to Iran by obtaining a Ziyarat Visa and then infiltrated into Pakistan via clandestine methods and contacted LeT commander Chima. It was alleged that after returning from Pakistan, Suhail was asked to look after LeT's work and assignments in Pune. However, Suhail's family had claimed he went to Iran to set up a dry fruits business. Suhail had refuted the allegations. He had also submitted before the court that his confession statement was the outcome of torture inflicted on him. While acquitting him on Monday, the High Court observed that Suhail's confession statement 'is inadmissible as it appears to have been extorted by torture.' Three other suspects from Pune — Mohammed Raheel Shaikh of Kubera Garden, Kondhwa, Pune; Rizwan Mohammed Daware, a software professional, who had been resided at Premanand Park in Wanavdi and Sohail Usman Gani Shaikh of Gaffar Baig street in Pune Camp — who were named as wanted accused in the 7/11 Mumbai train blasts case are still on the run. Their names and photographs were also printed on the pocket calendar (for the year 2015) titled 'Wanted', which was prepared by the Pune unit of the state ATS.
Indian Express
a day ago
- Indian Express
Pune's Suhail Shaikh acquitted by HC: we had lost hope, but he did not, says family
Family members of Pune based Suhail Mehmood Shaikh (55), who was acquitted by the Bombay High Court in the 7/11 Mumbai train blasts on Monday, said they have finally got 'justice'. After the HC verdict, Suhail's younger brother Rahil Shaikh, was in tears. 'I cannot tell you how happy we are. We as a family had lost all hope. But Suhail bhai had not lost hope. He used to say he had faith in the judiciary of India. We have finally got justice,' Rahil told The Indian Express. A metal fabrication worker, Rahil said his brother Suhail has been in Amravati central prison. 'I spoke with him over the phone after the judgement today. He was so happy and emotional at the same time. We are leaving for Amravati tonight. We used to talk to him via video conferencing calls and he was the one who used to tell us to have faith in the system,' he said. Rahil added he lost his parents after Suhail's arrest. 'They left this world waiting for Suhail to get justice,' he said. Rahil said Suhail's wife, three children (a daughter and a son, who are now married, as well as the youngest, a boy) are all eagerly waiting for him to return. 'They suffered a lot. The investigators had taken all their documents including the gas card. The family was publicly humiliated. Even our relatives abandoned us. But the truth has prevailed now,' he said. On the evening of July 11, 2006, seven bombs had exploded in local trains in Mumbai, killing 187 persons and leaving 817 injured. A probe into the terror attacks, termed as the '7/11' Mumbai train blasts, led to the arrest of 13 persons, including Suhail, who was picked up from his Pune residence on July 21. At the time, he worked as a rafoo artisan and tailor to earn a living. He had completed HSC from an English medium school in Pune Camp and also worked as a faith healer, said Rahil. In September 2015, a special court in Mumbai, convicted 12 accused persons, while one was acquitted. The court awarded the death penalty to five accused, while seven others including Suhail were sentenced to imprisonment for life. The Bombay HC Monday acquitted all the accused in this case. 'I am on my way to meet my father and bring him home after so many years,' said Suhail's son Syed Shaikh, who is employed in repairing and installing air conditioners in Pune. Investigators had claimed that the 7/11 train blast strike was allegedly masterminded by wanted accused Azam Chima alias Babaji, a Pakistani operative of terror outfit Lashkar e Taiba (LeT), who indoctrinated and trained SIMI operatives from India for the terror strikes. It was alleged that a wanted SIMI member, Mohammed Faizal Ataur Rehman Shaikh from Pune, had incited Suhail and gave him Rs 1 lakh to go to an LeT training camp. It had been alleged that Suhail was trained in handling arms, ammunition and explosives at an LeT terrorist camp at Muzaffarabad in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Investigators had also alleged that Suhail went to Iran by obtaining a Ziyarat Visa and then infiltrated into Pakistan via clandestine methods and contacted LeT commander Chima. It was alleged that after returning from Pakistan, Suhail was asked to look after LeT's work and assignments in Pune. However, Suhail's family had claimed he went to Iran to set up a dry fruits business. Suhail had refuted the allegations. He had also submitted before the court that his confession statement was the outcome of torture inflicted on him. While acquitting him on Monday, the High Court observed that Suhail's confession statement 'is inadmissible as it appears to have been extorted by torture.' Three other suspects from Pune — Mohammed Raheel Shaikh of Kubera Garden, Kondhwa, Pune; Rizwan Mohammed Daware, a software professional, who had been resided at Premanand Park in Wanavdi and Sohail Usman Gani Shaikh of Gaffar Baig street in Pune Camp — who were named as wanted accused in the 7/11 Mumbai train blasts case are still on the run. Their names and photographs were also printed on the pocket calendar (for the year 2015) titled 'Wanted', which was prepared by the Pune unit of the state ATS.
Time of India
5 days ago
- Sport
- Time of India
Jean-Eric Vergne delivers podium finish in Berlin, and he's not the only one to bounce back after a bad day
Jean-Eric Vergne (Image credit: Instagram) DS Penske driver Jean-Eric Vergne finally clinched his second podium of the season at the Berlin E-Prix. The Number 25 driver had hoped to secure a podium position in Saturday's Round 13 race as well, but he was unable to finish the race. He is, however, happy with how things turned out on Sunday and has shared his joy at the podium finish. How fate turned around for 3 Formula E drivers at Berlin E-Prix on Sunday Interestingly, all three drivers — Jean-Eric Vergne, Jake Dennis, and Oliver Rowland, who failed to finish Round 13 in Berlin on Saturday had a reason to celebrate on Sunday. While Vergne grabbed third place on the podium and Dennis finished second, Rowland missed the podium but sealed his Formula E World Championship victory. Jean-Eric Vergne on winning his second podium of the season Jean-Eric Vergne started from 18th on the grid and put on a great performance to finish third in the Round 14 race. Sharing his experience at the Tempelhof Airport Circuit during the Berlin E-Prix weekend, Vergne said, 'I guess I took it a little bit easy at the beginning, it feels nice to be on the podium, especially after the bad luck yesterday. I think another podium yesterday would have been possible, so overall I'm quite happy with the weekend. It was a strong one, and the team deserves a little bit of a reward. I'm happy for the guys, it was a good race!' Taking to Instagram, the French driver shared a picture of himself sipping champagne on the podium and captioned it, 'Was good to drink champagne in Berlin.' His fans and friends erupted in celebration in the comments section and congratulated him on his podium spot. One fan wrote, 'So well deserved, my eagle. Congrats to you and the team!' Another said, 'Congratulations on the podium, Jean-Eric. Look forward to seeing you in London.' One more commented, 'Fantastic race!!! Congratulations.' Jean-Eric Vergne had earlier secured a podium finish in Shanghai, where he finished second in Round 10 of the Formula E season. He is currently sixth in the 2025 Formula E Driver Standings with 89 points. Also Read: Jake Dennis ends bad luck streak with Berlin podium ahead of London home race: 'It's more for morale' Formula E Season 11 now heads toward its grand finale in London, scheduled to take place at ExCeL London from July 25–27. 22 Formula E drivers, including Vergne, will represent 11 teams in the Round 15 and Round 16 races in London. Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
