Calls for a fresh, court-monitored investigation into the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case have intensified as Abdul Wahid Shaikh, the only person acquitted in the case, has demanded the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to bring the real perpetrators to justice.
“The government should re-investigate the case by setting up a Special Investigation Team to be headed by a High Court judge to ensure that the real perpetrators behind the train bomb blasts are arrested,” Shaikh said.
His comments came a day after the Bombay High Court overturned the conviction of all 12 men sentenced by the special court in 2015, stating that the prosecution had "utterly failed" to prove the case and that it was "hard to believe the accused committed the crime."
Shaikh, who now works as a teacher and has authored a book titled Begunah Qaidi, was cleared of all charges in 2015 after spending nine years in prison. He was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) shortly after the serial blasts killed over 180 people and injured scores more on 11 July 2006.
The acquittal by the High Court has reignited questions over the original investigation, with the bench explicitly noting that confessional statements were extracted through custodial torture. “The HC verdict exposed the falsehood of ATS,” said Shaikh, who has consistently spoken out against the alleged custodial abuse he and others endured.
Also read: All 12 accused acquitted in 2006 Mumbai train blasts case
Shaikh also demanded an apology from the ATS for what he called a “botched” investigation, ₹19 crore in compensation (₹1 crore for each year the 12 accused spent in jail), as well as government-provided jobs and housing for them.
“Though very late, these people finally got justice,” he said, while extending sympathy to the families of victims who perished in the synchronised explosions that tore through suburban trains along Mumbai’s Western Railway.
He also remembered the late Assistant Commissioner of Police Vinod Bhat, one of the early investigators in the case, who allegedly ended his life weeks after the attack.
“Today, the soul of ACP Bhat must be happy. He ended his life in August 2006 due to pressure to frame innocent persons on the same railway track where bomb blasts had occurred,” Shaikh claimed, adding that the incident was recorded as an accidental death at Dadar Railway Police Station.
The 7/11 blasts remain one of the most devastating terror attacks in Mumbai’s history. The collapse of the state’s case, once hailed as a breakthrough investigation, has now raised difficult questions for Maharashtra’s anti-terror apparatus.
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