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No clue about 7/11 train blasts mastermind

A year after the 7/11 serial train blasts that killed 187 commuters, the alleged masterminds of the conspiracy are still at large and the trial of 13 charge sheeted persons is yet to begin.

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MUMBAI: A year after the 7/11 serial train blasts that killed 187 commuters, the alleged masterminds of the conspiracy are still at large and the trial of 13 charge sheeted persons is yet to begin.

The Anti Terrorism Squad of the Maharashtra police, which investigated the case, has arrested 13 people and filed a 10,000-page charge sheet in the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court here.

But the victims seem to be unenthused as no amount of trial will bring back their beloved and there was a general apathy about the trial.

Police announced with much fanfare that the case had been solved and said the blasts were masterminded by the Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) and carried out with the help of cadre from the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

LeT chief Azam Cheema and many others, who played pivotal roles including planting the bombs, are still at large.

ATS filed the charge sheet in the case last November and the framing of charges against the suspects is yet to begin.

It has been delayed on three occasions earlier and is likely to commence on July 30.

This was the first major case in which scientific tests like narco-analysis were used extensively for leads and the suspects allege the results were manipulated to indict them.

The suspects, which include LeT's alleged western India commander have been resorting to what the investigating agency claims as 'attention diverting' activities, including making accusations about state excesses, targeting of a particular community and them being framed.

Seven near simultaneous explosions during the evening peak hour on July 11 in different first class compartments left 187 dead and injured 812 persons.

Police said the explosives containing RDX were put inside a pressure cooker to maximise the impact and kept in the luggage rack of suburban trains. Each explosive was kept on by a team of two people, which included an Indian and a Pakistani national.

Saleem, one of the Pakistani bomb planters, died as he was not able to exit off the crowded train while one Mohammed Ali, also a planter, was shot dead by the police in an operation in Antop Hill area a month after the blasts.

The ATS received the first lead in what then Mumbai police commissioner AN Roy called as a 'blinder' of a case, after it tracked that several calls being made to the Indo-Nepal border. Shaikh was arrested by the city police.

Regarding funding of the conspiracy, the ATS claims that LeT man Rizwan Dawre who handles the finances for the organization, sent money to Indian conspirators through the hawala channel.

The RDX used in the blasts is believed to have been bought through the porous Indo-Bangladesh border by a Pakistani national and wanted accused Ehsanullah.

There is however a controversy surrounding the pressure cooker theory as the charge sheet does not have any mention of it. Moreover, the police say that the suspects had purchased eight pressure cookers for the seven explosions and have not yet been able to ascertain what happened to the eighth.

The police claimed to have solved the case in September last while the charge sheet, bought to the court in a truck, was filed in November.

 

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