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Time of India
22-07-2025
- Time of India
Destruction of CDRs raises serious doubts over integrity of 11/7 probe: HC
Mumbai local blasts MUMBAI: Bombay high court questioned ATS over the "integrity" and deletion of call data records (CDRs) in its probe into the 11/7 train blasts, adding "reluctance of the prosecution to bring CDRs on record and their destruction raises an adverse inference against the prosecution". HC said the prosecution's case was that conspiracy meetings were held at the residence of a planter in Bandra, attended by four other accused. In May, a prosecution witness met the planter and others near Shams Masjid, in Mira Road, where the witness was instructed by the planter to call another accused there. Besides, confessions of two accused said one handed over his mobile phone to the other near Lucky Hotel, Bandra, at 4.15pm, the judgment said. In its claim of one eyewitness seeing an alleged blast conspiracy meeting, "prosecution could have easily established location and movement of accused at the relevant places and times through CDRs. Instead, the CDR was destroyed. This act raises serious doubts over the integrity of the investigation and amounts to a grave violation of right to a fair trial," the HC special bench of Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak held. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like American Investor Warren Buffett Recommends: 5 Books For Turning Your Life Around Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo HC said CDR was of critical importance, particularly because first arrest in 11/7 case was made based on a mobile number allegedly belonging to accused Kamal Ansari (who died in 2021 after conviction in Nagpur prison) from which a religious SMS was sent, arousing suspicion in minds of ATS. HC said prosecution appeared to have done no probe to corroborate the witness's claim of having met near the masjid or at accused's house. "Prosecution could have produced the CDR of either the witness or the accused to establish their location," HC held. The witness' statement is shrouded in doubt. Besides, while his statement was said to be recorded by an ACP at Chandan Chowki, the certified logbook shows the ACP "did not even go" there that day. Prosecution said allegedly "as per the Al-Qaeda Manual and training given to the accused, they were not supposed to use their mobile phones for operational purposes". "In the absence of direct evidence of conspiracy, a chain of events has to be completed from which a conclusion of guilt of the accused can be drawn," HC said. The court added that with the eight unreliable eyewitnesses, the chain could not be completed, and the witness was of no help in establishing the conspiracy claim.
Time of India
22-07-2025
- Time of India
2006 Mumbai train blasts: Nothing about al-Qaeda manual, says Bombay HC; after 19 years behind bars, 11 men acquitted
MUMBAI: After over six months of hearing and going through more than 44,000 pages of record, Bombay HC concluded the Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) had no case against the 12 accused in the 11/7 train blasts case. Over two decades ago, bombs planted on first-class compartments exploded during the peak evening commute at seven locations on the Western Railway suburban network. You Can Also Check: Mumbai AQI | Weather in Mumbai | Bank Holidays in Mumbai | Public Holidays in Mumbai They ripped metal and lives between Khar Road and Santacruz, Bandra and Khar Road, Jogeshwari and Mahim Junction, Mira Road and Bhayander, Matunga and Mahim Junction, and Borivli. The prosecution case was of sophisticated explosive RDX being used, of accused being members of terror outfits like SIMI who received training in Pakistan, and of 15 wanted accused, mainly Pakistanis. While the trial court's special MCOCA judge Y D Shinde in 2015 said special public prosecutor Raja Thakare had rightly described the accused as "merchants of death" and Thakare argued that the trial verdict could not be dislodged and the noose be confirmed, the HC noted the prosecution case had unravelled completely. The HC also held that the prosecution failed to prove what kind of explosive was used. It said no importance can be attached to claims of recovery of RDX, circuit boards and detonators, as prosecution failed to prove custody chain before analysis. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 15 most beautiful women in the world Undo The dozen men were in prison all along since their arrests in 2006. While one of them died in 2021, the 11 whose appeals were allowed joined on Monday via video-conferencing from prisons across the state, including Pune's Yerawada and prisons in Nashik, Amravati and Nagpur. "Bahut bahut shukriya Sir," said a convict, in white prison uniform with a white topi, on video conference from Yerawada, when defence lawyer Yug Chaudhri, conveyed to them in Hindi that they all stood freed. The HC, in a detailed analysis of the case and evidence on record, said while "prosecution has referred to Al-Qaeda Manual for many things, nothing is brought on record about it." The prosecution case was that wanted accused Azam Cheema alias Babaji, a Pakistani national, and two of the accused given death sentence as planters had conspired since 1999 to wage war against the govt of India and were in touch with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Conspiracy meetings were held in Bandra and one accused brought six Pakistanis to Mumbai in 2006, ATS had said. HC wondered why no CDRs were brought on record. "The alleged connection of the accused with Azam Cheema and members of LeT could have been established with the help of CDRs," HC said. The HC classified prosecution witnesses in four categories: for identification, eyewitnesses of bomb assembly, of conspiracy, and taxi drivers who allegedly ferried two planters. The court discarded their testimonies as doubtful. For one who claimed to have been to a planter's (A3, an alleged 'jihadist') house where he allegedly saw a few Pakistanis whose names he recalled but did not know what the meeting was for, the HC, doubting his credibility, said that "at the same time, he could not recollect the name of a particular dancer, with whom he had a close relationship for over a month in the same year. " Kamal Ansari, given death sentence by the trial judge, died in 2021. He too stood acquitted by HC. Apart from convicts' appeals, before the HC was the state's reference for death sentence confirmation, as required by law for capital punishment to become executable. Thakare and Avdhoot Chimalkar for the state argued the appeals were fit to be dismissed. The conviction relied primarily on the confessions of 11 accused under the stringent MCOCA Act to nail them. Before HC, an alleged planter Naved Khan, from Nagpur prison, had said he suffered "needlessly for 19 years" and while lives were lost, innocents could not be hanged.
