Mumbai: Thursday marked the 13th anniversary of the 2006 serial blasts, which occurred on the train compartments of the Western Suburban railway in Mumbai. To commemorate the incident a group of civil activists came together at the Maratha Patrakar Bhavan claiming the 12 people who were convicted to be innocent. They also alleged that the investigations were only carried out to malign the minority community and the convicts were falsely charged by the Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) and Mumbai Police, Crime Branch.
Prime accused Kamal Ansari’s mother, Shaeedunnisa was present at the gathering claiming his son to be innocent and he was framed by the security agencies. “My son had never been to Mumbai, he doesn’t know anyone outside our neighbourhood, leave about planting bombs,” she said. Kamal Ansari was arrested from his residence in Bihar and was sentenced to death by the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court along with Faisal Sheikh, Asif Khan, Ehtisham Siddiqui and Naveed Khan as they were found guilty of planting bombs in train compartments.
Khalid Ansari, brother of Sajid Ansari was one of the attendees of the event. Sajid has been sentenced for life by the court as he was found guilty of preparing electric circuits for the bombs. “There has been no transparency to the probe, the accused were convicted on basis of their mobile phone locations and call records, whereas they were not even in the city when the blasts took place,” stated a social activist, Khalid Siddiqui, who further alleged the crime branch and the ATS of presenting false witnesses in the court and manipulating the video recordings of the confessions.
