Eight individuals accused in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts were released today from different prisons across Maharashtra.
Among those released were Ehtesham Qutubuddin Siddiqui and Mohammed Ali Alam Sher Sheikh, who walked out of Nagpur Central Jail. Six others — Tanvir Ahmed Mohammad Ibrahim Ansari, Mahad Majid Mahad Shafi, Suhail Mohammad Sheikh, and Zamir Ahmed Latifur Rehman Sheikh — were released from Amravati Central Jail approximately half an hour ago.
The development is likely to spark political and legal commentary in the coming days.
After 19 years in lock up, 12 men accused of perpetrating the 2006 Mumbai train blasts will walk free on Monday after Bombay High Court set aside their convictions.
On July 11, 2006, when a series of bombs exploded on Western suburban coaches, killing 189 commuters and injuring 824, Kamal Ansari from Bihar, Mohammad Faisal Ataur Rahman Shaikh from Mumbai, Ehtesham Qutubuddin Siddiqui from Thane, Naveed Hussain Khan from Secunderabad and Asif Khan from Jalgaon in Maharashtra were found guilty of planting the bombs and sentenced to death by the trial court.
Tanveer Ahmed Mohammed Ibrahim Ansari, Mohammed Majid Mohammed Shafi, Shaikh Mohammed Ali Alam Shaikh, Mohammed Sajid Margub Ansari, Muzammil Ataur Rahman Shaikh, Suhail Mehmood Shaikh and Zameer Ahmed Latiur Rehman Shaikh were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Ansari died in the Nagpur prison during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.
Out of the 12 accused at least seven of them were identified to be a part of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) or had some relation to it. It is an Islamist organization that has been banned in India since 2001, shortly after the 9/11 attacks. The men came from Mumbai, Jalgaon, Mira Road, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Bangalore.