MUMBAI: After over six months of hearing and going through more than 44,000 pages of record, Bombay HC concluded the Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) had no case against the 12 accused in the 11/7 train blasts case.Tanveer Ansari | 52A unani doctor from Agripada, he was considered a conspirator for participating in meetings at Faisal Shaikh’s residence and being present at the time of bomb-making at Mohammed Ali’s home. His wife was pregnant when he was arrested. His daughter, now aged 19, is in college. “He was wrongly booked in the case. He was tortured for two days at the Saat Rasta police lockup (near Jacob Circle),” his elder brother Maqsood Ahmed Ansari told TOI on Monday. “My father entered the crime branch office and saw blood on Tanveer’s face, and his clothes were torn.” The family was not allowed to meet Tanveer when they once visited the court. “My mother passed away 10 days later in 2008. My father passed away in 2018. Our request for his parole was rejected thrice,” said Maqsood. Tanveer’s wife relocated to her mother’s house in Rajasthan and has been in touch with him through phone calls. Maqsood claimed the then ATS chief K P Raghuvanshi had told their mother that Tanveer would be released. “My mother had asked him why he was arrested if he was innocent,” he said.Mohammed Ali Shaikh | 56He used to sell unani medicines in Govandi and was accused of providing his 15×10 room for making bombs. His son, Mohammed Sohail, who was just 11 years old when he was arrested, told TOI on Monday that he never told anyone in his school that his father was in jail. “We lived in a joint family and told classmates that our father was out of Mumbai,’’ he said. “My father applied for parole twice. The first application made when my grandfather passed away was rejected. The second time, we didn’t have money to pay the fees,” said Sohail. Police had claimed that Shaikh had received training from Pakistan and that he had gone to receive some other accused a day prior to the blasts. “But many people in our area saw my father attending a local resident’s funeral on that day,” said Sohail, who became a civil engineer despite the financial problems. He said the ATS had collected dust from their house to check for explosives, but the test found nothing. “It’s sad my father spent so many years in prison when he had no role in it. He was in jail when my sister was married,” said Sohail.“Now, that he has been acquitted, we all are happy. We are thankful to NGO Jamiat-ulema-e-Hind for providing us legal help in the case. It also helped me financially to complete my education,” said Sohail, adding that the family will travel to Nagpur jail to receive him.Muzammil Shaikh | 41A software engineer who had shifted from Mira Road to Bannerghatta in Bengaluru, was accused of receiving training in Pakistan and attending meetings held at his brother Faisal’s home.Sajid Ansari | 49The electronics engineer from Mira Road was accused of making electric circuits and timers that were used in the blasts and sheltering Pakistani terrorists. Ansari, who is on parole at present, told TOI on Monday, “The truth has prevailed. From the first day, we pleaded our innocence, but no one listened. Forced confessions, planted evidence—everything was fabricated.” His wife was pregnant when he was arrested, and his daughter was born two months later. “My mother and two sisters died while I was in jail. I didn’t get to attend their funerals,” he said. “Will those who stole our 19 years bring them back? Will society ever accept us? Will I ever be able to reclaim my job as an engineer? Even now, police knock on our doors”Mohammed Shafi | 47A Kolkata-based footwear shop owner was accused of transporting Pakistanis from Bangladesh border to Mumbai and taking them back to Bangladesh after the blasts.Zameer shaikh | 50A key-maker from Worli, he was accused of receiving arms training in Pakistan. He was also accused of being allegedly linked with the Matunga Road train blast and SIMI-related material was reportedly recovered from his house. His brother Shareeful Rehman Shaikh said: “It was very difficult for us when my brother was wrongly framed in a case. He was kept in illegal custody for four days, but he never shared police torture with us.” Zameer’s elder son, who was then four years old, has completed his engineering course, while his daughter is still studying. In 2015, after the conviction by the Mumbai special court, Zameer told his wife to get separated because of uncertainty about his future. The couple got divorced in 2017. “The family was shattered. Our mother passed away in 2010, and father in 2017,” said Shareeful.Sohail Shaikh | 56A tailor and raffu maker from Pune, was accused of receiving training in Pakistan, conspiring in meetings at Faisal’s home, and surveying local trains. His younger brother Rahil Shaikh told TOI : “The stigma of being a terrorist family attached to us for the last 19 years has finally been removed, thanks to our judicial system.” After Sohail was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Mumbai special court, the family had lost hope, said Rahil. “But Sohail had faith in the judiciary. He would always tell us, ‘Maine kuch bhi galat nahi kiya hain’ (I have not done anything wrong). Today, the court has proven him right.” Recalling the day of the blasts, Rahil said Sohail was with the family, watching the news coverage on TV. “He was with us having dinner. How could he be involved in this incident? No investigation agency believed our version. When he was called the next day to the ATS office, he went without any hesitation,” Rahil recalled. “After Suhail’s arrest, people looked at us with suspicion…They branded us a terrorist family, which was hurtful… The verdict today has given us a new identity—one that my father earned over the decades,” he said.Alleged planters who escaped the nooseEhtesham Sidduiqui | 43Was accused of planting a bomb in the 5.19pm Virar fast local train which exploded at Mira Road around 6.23pm. He was a writer-publisher of religious books and had been identified as the joint secretary of SIMI, Maharashtra. Charges against him included conspiring in a meeting held at the residence of co-accused Faisal Shaikh and surveying local trains. It was also said that he was present at the Govandi residence of co-accused Mohammed Ali for bomb-making and transported Pakistanis to Mumbra.Asif Khan |52Was accused of placing a bomb in the 5.37pm Virar fast local train which exploded at Borivli station at 6.28pm. Khan, who had resided in Jalgaon and later in Belgaum (Karnataka), had completed a civil engineering diploma. He was accused of holding a meeting at the residence of co-accused Faisal Shaikh and procuring explosive material. Asif has two daughters and a son; his elder daughter is married (he couldn’t attend the wedding) while his younger daughter is studying BAMS. His son has completed a diploma in electrical engineering. His mother, Husna, was happy while talking to TOI on Monday: “Now, I will be able to meet my son after five years. Words cannot express my happiness. However, the sad part is that his life has been ruined and my husband died heartbroken in 2011.” His younger brother went to Pune to receive him from Yerwada jail.Faisal Shaikh |51A resident of Perry Cross Road in Bandra, he was accused of planting a bomb in the 5.36pm Borivli slow local train which exploded at Jogeshwari around 6.24pm. As per the chargesheet, Shaikh was trained in Pakistan twice, and arranged for others to be trained there too. Other charges included conspiring in a meeting at his residence, harbouring Pakistanis and receiving money through hawala. It was also said that he was present during the bomb-making process at Mohammed Ali’s Govandi home. Families of the co-accused told TOI on Monday that Shaikh’s parents passed away in this period and his sister moved to Dubai after getting married; his brother Muzammil had got life sentence for allegedly being a conspirator in the train blasts.Naveed Khan |45Was accused of placing a bomb in the 5.48pm Borivli slow local train that exploded at Khar subway around 6.25pm. Khan, who was arrested from Hyderabad where he worked as a sales manager, had previously lived in Mira Road. He was charged with transporting bombs from Govandi to Bandra, surveying trains and being present at Mohammed Ali’s home when bombs were being assembled. One of his relatives told TOI on Monday that the late advocate, Shahid Azmi, who had first taken up this case, and Jamiatul-Ulema stood by them. “Today all the innocent boys are out. When nine people in the (2006) Malegaon bomb blast cases were released in 2011, we got a ray of hope. We will also go to Supreme Court, if required,” the relative saidKamal Ansari | DeceasedWas accused of planting the bomb in the 5.51pm Virar fast local train that exploded at Matunga Road station at 6.24pm. He was 50 years old when he passed away due to Covid-related complications in 2021, while waiting for his appeal against his 2015 conviction to be heard. A chicken-seller from Madhubani in Bihar, it was alleged that he had received arms training in Pakistan. He was also accused of transporting Pakistanis from Nepal border to Mumbai and for procuring explosive material.
