Nagpur/Amravati/Pune/Nashik: Nine of the 12 convicts acquitted by Bombay high court in the 2006 Mumbai train bombings case were released from their prisons in Nagpur, Amravati, Pune and Nashik late on Monday. Two remained in jail — one in Nagpur, the other in Pune — in connection with other cases, while Kamal Ansari — listed as Accused No. 1 — had died in Nagpur prison in April 2021, during the Covid-19 pandemic.Ehtesham Sidduiqui and Mohammed Ali Shaikh spent 19 years behind bars in Nagpur prison. A third inmate, Naveed Khan, remains in custody in connection with a separate case, jail superintendent Vaibhav Agey confirmed to TOI. Sidduiqui and Shaikh were later flown to Mumbai from Nagpur airport.The four released from the jail in Amravati, 155 km from Nagpur, are Mohammed Shafi, Zameer Shaikh, Tanveer Ansari, and Sohail Shaikh.Muzammil Shaikh and Sajid Ansari — he is already out on parole to attend to his unwell wife — were freed from Nashik prison.Asif Khan was released from Pune’s Yerawada central prison, while Faisal Shaikh, also acquitted, was not released as another case is pending against him.The released prisoners were arrested in 2006 and remained incarcerated till Monday’s high court judgment.Jail authorities confirmed that under updated Supreme Court guidelines, an accused can now be released on the basis of a digitally signed judgment, eliminating the need to wait for a hard copy. “We only need approval from the HC’s local office,” a jail official said.
