The fate of 13 accused will be decided on Friday as the special MCOCA court in Mumbai is set to pronounce the verdict in the 2006 serial bombings on Mumbai's local trains.
Two of the accused — Faisal Sheikh and Asif Khan Bashir Khan alias Junaid — have been identified by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad as the main conspirators of the attacks.
Faisal, who planted a bomb which went off at Jogeshwari station, is accused of working for Lashkar-e-Taiba’s Pakistani commander-in-chief Azam Cheema, an absconding accused and also among the key conspirators in the incident.
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Co-conspirator Junaid allegedly procured bags, utensils, ammonium nitrate and detonators.
As per the prosecution’s case, the accused persons were activists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). They held several conspiratorial meetings at Faisal’s house in Bandra and at another accused Sajid’s house in Mira Road, where they decided to target local trains as they were crowded and security was not as tight as for the other sites they had surveyed.
On the day of the attacks, they travelled in different taxis to Churchgate with seven bags of explosives, kept at Faisal's house, and planted them on various trains.
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Starting 6.24 p.m. on July 11, 2006, >seven blasts ripped through the first class compartments of the trains at Matunga, Mahim, Bandra, Jogeshwari, Borivali and Mira Road stations.
Many of the accused received arms training in Pakistan, housed Pakistani terrorists and helped them cross over to India via the India-Nepal and India-Bangladesh borders, according to the ATS.
The Mumbai Crime Branch arrested five alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives, including a Sadiq Sheikh, in connection with the bombings, bringing forth a possible IM hand in the blasts and putting a question mark on the ATS probe. The ATS later discarded IM's role and Sadiq, who confessed, was declared hostile.
The call data records of some accused contest investigators’ claims about their locations.
Timeline
11
July, 2006
>Seven RDX bombs rip the first class compartments of Mumbai local trains between Churchgate and Bhayander station in a span of 11 minutes. 189 dead, around 800 injured
21
July, 2006
Police arrest three persons in connection with the blasts.
30
November, 2006
ATS files charge sheet, 13 arrested accused and 15 absconding accused charged under MCOCA
21
June, 2007
7/11 accused move Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of MCOCA. In February 2008, Supreme Court ordered a stay on the trial.
23
September, 2008
Mumbai Crime Branch arrests five IM operatives. Crime branch probe shows IM carried out the bombings, contradicting ATS that Pakistani nationals also planted bombs.
13
February, 2010
Young lawyer Shahid Azmi, who defended some of the accused in 7/11 case, shot dead in his central Mumbai office.
23
April, 2010
Stay on trial vacated, examination of witnesses resume
23
June, 2010
Media barred from entering court conducting trial
30
August, 2013
Yasin Bhatkal, co-founder of IM, >arrested at Indo-Nepal border. Yasin claims the 2006 bombings were done by IM in retaliation to the 2002 riots, raising questions about arrest of 13 accused by ATS
20
August, 2014
7/11 trial concludes and court reserves judgment