Mumbai: After spending 19 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit, Mohammed Ali Shaikh has finally walked free with the Bombay High Court acquitting him and others in a long-standing terror case. Speaking to the media after his release, Shaikh broke down while recounting the trauma he and his family endured over the years, blaming the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and senior officers for framing innocent men to show results.
Mohammed Ali Shaikh Speaks Out
“There is joy because truth has won and justice has finally been done for us,” said Shaikh. “For 19 years, our entire focus was on this case. We filed RTIs, gathered crucial documents, and presented them before the court. The entire story was false. When they couldn’t find the real culprits, they planted us in the case. We were beaten, tortured, and forced to confess.”
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Shaikh was one of several men accused in the case who claimed they were victims of custodial torture and police manipulation. “Even I was tortured. The court heard me out. The police knew we were innocent. They just needed signatures on a fabricated statement.”
Allegation Made By Shaikh
He went on to allege that the ATS, including then chief K.P. Raghuvanshi, then Commissioner of Police A.N. Roy, and a DCP, were responsible for “playing with our lives” and ruining their families for nearly two decades.
“They never gave us parole. I had to approach the High Court, and only then did I get parole for four days for my father’s and brother’s funerals, but they asked for Rs.2 lakh, and I couldn’t afford it. I couldn’t even attend their last rites,” he said, choking with emotion. “My wife fell sick, my son was very young, and we faced abuse even at our home. ATS officials came and assaulted us. We suffered despite being innocent. There is no compensation for what we lost.”
Speaking further, Shaikh said, “I always believed that truth needs no fear. Even in the Supreme Court, we will fight and win. We were framed. They made up a story and used it to imprison us. There were 14 of us living in that house. ATS said the house was locked and we were out, but we were home the entire time.”
He recalled how a witness who initially said nothing later changed his statement after 100 days, and that too was used against them. “The court saw all of this. On the day of the blast, I was at home. We had shut down a local blue-film parlour through protests, and because of that, I was threatened and targeted. I was told not to behave like Gandhi. I was illegally detained for two months, and my family was threatened too.”
He added, “They got us to sign false confessions, made us record confessions on camera. The sessions court gave a one-sided verdict. I never got furlough or parole, not even when my father and brother passed away. I couldn’t attend my own daughter’s wedding.”
Shaikh ended by saying, “This has been a huge loss — one that can never be repaid. If this time the verdict had gone against us, we wouldn’t have survived. But truth has triumphed, and we will continue to fight and win even in the Supreme Court.”
