2006 Mumbai blasts: SC to hear Maharashtra’s appeal against acquittals on July 24

New Delhi, July 22: The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, agreed to hear on July 24 plea of the Maharashtra government against the Bombay High Court verdict acquitting all 12 accused in the 2006 Mumbai train bomb blasts case.

A bench of Chief Justice BR Gavai and Justices K Vinod Chandran and NV Anjaria listed the matter for Thursday after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Maharashtra government, mentioned for urgent listing saying that there is an element of urgency.

Nineteen years after seven train blasts here killed more than 180 persons, the Bombay High Court, on Monday, had acquitted all the 12 accused, saying the prosecution utterly failed to prove the case and it was "hard to believe the accused committed the crime".

Seven of the 12 persons acquitted were released from jails in Nagpur, Amravati and Pune, officials said.

Among them were Ehtesham Siddiqui, who was sentenced to death in the case by a trial court in 2015 and Mohammad Ali, who was serving life imprisonment.

They walked out of the Nagpur Central Jail in the evening. An official said Naveed Khan, also among the 12, will remain in jail here as he is an undertrial in an attempt to murder case.

The four persons released from Amravati Central Jail included Suhail Sheikh, who hails from Pune.

Sources identified the other three as Tanvir Ahmed Mohammad Ibrahim Ansari, Mohammad Majid Shafi, and Zamir Ahmed Latifur Rehman Sheikh, all of whom were in Amravati jail since 2015.

Yerwada Central Prison superintendent Pallavi Kadam informed that one of the two persons was released from the prison facility in the evening.

"Asif Khan Bashir Khan, and Mohammed Faisal Rahman Shaikh, were lodged in Yerwada jail. Asif alias Junaid was released, while Shaikh is still in jail as there is another case pending against him," said Kadam.

Seven train blasts on Western Railway's suburban network in Mumbai on July 11, 2006, had killed more than 180 persons.

PTI