Mumbai: Five of the 12 convicts in the 2006 Mumbai blasts case were sentenced to death here today, nine years after a series of bomb blasts in suburban trains rattled the metropolis killing 188 people.
The special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court judge Yatin D Shinde also sentenced seven other convicts to life in jail.
Kamal Ahamed Ansari (37), Mohammad Faisal Shaikh (36), Ehtesham Siddiqui (30), Naveed Hussain Khan (30) and Asif Khan (38), all of them bomb planters, have been sentenced to death.
The remaining seven, who were spared the noose, are Tanvir Ahmed Ansari (37), Mohammad Majid Shafi (32), Shaikh Alam Shaikh (41), Mohd Sajid Ansari (34), Muzzammil Shaikh
(27), Soheil Mehmood Shaikh (43) and Zamir Ahmad Shaikh (36).
The blasts in 2006 ripped the suburban trains within a span of 10 minutes between Khar Road-Santacruz, Bandra-Khar Road, Jogeshwari-Mahim Junction, Mira Road- Bhayander, Matunga-Mahim Junction and Borivali.
The court had last week concluded hearing arguments on the quantum of sentence when prosecution demanded death penalty for 8 of the 12 accused while it sought life imprisonment for the remaining four.
On September 23, the Special MCOCA court had reserved its order on sentencing in the case for today. Earlier, on September 11, it had convicted 12 of the 13 accused, all allegedly having links with banned SIMI, while acquitting one.
The accused were found guilty of charges under IPC, Explosives Act, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act and Indian Railway Act and those under MCOCA.
The court also found all the 12 accused guilty under Section 3 (1) (i) of MCOCA, which attracts capital punishment. During the investigations, 13 accused, all of them Indians, were arrested and brought to trial.
The chargesheet filed by Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) in November 2006 had named 30 accused, out of which 17 of them are absconding. After the examination of witnesses, the defence advocates had pleaded leniency saying that the 12 convicts were merely the pawns of mastermind Cheema.
