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India Today
23-07-2025
- India Today
How the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case was cracked
(NOTE: This article was originally published in the India Today issue dated October 16, 2006)They could have been just another group of young men travelling from the dust bowls of Bihar, seeking respite from the darkness of poverty and pursuing a dream of prosperity. The dark night of June 25 provided the perfect setting, camouflaging the motive of two men from across the border who boarded the train from Patna. A tall, hefty Kamal Ahmed Ansari escorted the two inconspicuous passengers into a seemingly unknown territory. The men didn't exchange words for two days in the Mumbai-bound train and melted into the populated suburbs as soon as they and his wards, though, were only a part of the big team. By the time they reached Mumbai, the entire team of 11 Pakistanis-who had sneaked through the porous border- was in place. So was the Indian contingent. Seven two-member teams with one Indian and a Pakistani were formed for the operation Terror, you could say, had arrived in Mumbai. It had taken the group three months-from one fateful rainy night in Bahawalpur, Pakistan, in March 2006-to plan and execute an attack that shook the commercial capital and shocked the country yet to Lashkar-e-Taiba's (LeT) India commander Azam Cheema's palatial house in Bahawalpur, Pakistan, where he was playing host. It was the congregation of the faithful, the new converts and pilgrims to the world of terror. Like-minded or rather mindless jehadis from various parts of the world had assembled for their sermon. Sitting in a regal room were the Indian visitors who had reached his place via Bangladesh, Nepal and Iran. The air was thick with idealism. One cue from Cheema was enough to kickstart another round of bloody "freedom struggle". LeT training camps at Bahawalpur were now swarming with 50 men waiting to become jehadis. Situated right in the middle of a jungle, the camp is the school for terror, which trains men in identifying, handling, firing and dismantling weapons. A major chapter involves education in making, planting and finally testing explosives in special water trainees are also taught the use of modern communications tools-from Internet to satellite phones-to effectively and efficiently carry out their intent. That night, says the police, the blueprint of a plan designed by the ISI and executed by the LeT was drawn. The joint force was all set to orchestrate one of the biggest carnages that Mumbai was to witness in days to come-the serial bomb blasts that killed 187 COUNTDOWN BEGINSBy July 8, the Pakistanis had already settled in the new environment in middle and lower class Muslim localities in the suburbs and Mumbra. The RDX was on its way to Mumbai. Smuggled through the Kandla port in Gujarat, it was transported by road to Mumbai. Ehsan Ullah, the dark and well-built man accompanying the most deadly contraband from Kandla port, had procured 20 kg of RDX, roughly the amount that caused the maximum casualty at Century Bazaar in 1993. Since the beginning of the year, the Maharashtra Police had seized over 400 kg of RDX, but this was one shipment that slipped the dragnet. What is worse, the police fear some other consignments too may have reached their destination and may be with sleeper the 1993 blasts, this time RDX was not the only substance used to shake up Mumbai. Dr Tanvir Ansari, a unani medicine practitioner at the Saboo Siddique hospital at Byculla, procured 20 kg of ammonium nitrate, which when mixed with RDX, increased the explosive force by a factor of three. Ammonium nitrate was procured from the quarries in Thane where the chemical is available for the well-connected. Money was no problem. Hawala payments from Saudi Arab via a techie, Rizwan Ahmed Davre, were sent to Faizal Sheikh, who is suspected to be the LeT chief of Mumbai. The Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), which recovered 26,000 riyals (Rs 3,16,956) from Sheikh's house, estimates that over Rs 60 lakh had been sent to Faisal via hawala in two the morning of July 9, somewhere in Orissa, India was preparing to test its longest surface-to-surface nuclear-capable ballistic missile Agni III which could cover 3,000 km to strike as far as China. But the real enemy was under her nose, on her soil, all set to target the softest core, Mumbai. In a dingy one-room flat owned by Mohammed Ali (an alleged LeT operative), at Shivajinagar in Govandi, locally made Kanchan pressure cookers were filled with 2 kg of RDX and 3.5 kg of ammonium nitrate to create a lethal concoction. Once ready, the 'bombs' were transported to Sheikh's one-room tenement in upmarket Perry Cross lane in in Mumbai, it was a usual Tuesday evening on July 11. The pressure cookers were wrapped in newspapers and carried in black rexine bags. The bombers left Bandra by 4 p.m. and reached Churchgate by 5.15 p.m. Taxis from respective hideouts were abandoned at Churchgate as the groups headed for the subway. The groups emerged separately on the fast train platform numbers 3 and 4, slipping into the first-class compartment of the crowded six o'clock bags were strategically placed on luggage overheads under wet umbrellas used on rainy monsoon days. As the moment of insanity drew closer, the groups got off the respective trains at different stations. Seven bombs exploded between 6.24 p.m. to 6.35 p.m. on Matunga, Mahim, Bandra, Khar Road, Jogeshwari, Bhyander and Borivli. Barring the one bomber killed at Khar, the operation was a AND CLUELESSLike most of Mumbai, the police too was shocked at the magnitude of the attack. The first clues emerged from the tests at the forensic laboratory at Kalina when the substance used in the blasts was identified as RDX mixed with ammonium nitrate. As the sleuths worked through the night, it was clear that this was no rogue attack but a well-planned terror onslaught. Mumbai Police Commissioner A.N. Roy said a few hours after the attack, "Blasts were planned with great precision and there was no spot evidence."It was also clear that piecing together the jigsaw would be tough. The biggest hurdle was the magnitude of the tragedy. Minutes after the blast ripped the first class compartments of the seven Western Railway trains, panic-struck passengers and rains played deterrent in collecting evidence. Strewn between the remains of the train's compartments and charred bodies were going to be pieces of evidence, key to the trail that would later lead to people and places across the border. But, in those initial hours, with rain playing a farewell shower to the dead, the situation for the investigators was what Roy describes best: "It was nearly a blinder for us."advertisementThe night that followed brought into action the otherwise ignored Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS). Twenty officers, 50 constables and five dogs worked round the clock to find clinching evidence on the spot. Well into the night, the teams, wearing gloves and carrying umbrellas, split across the different blast spots and scanned through mounds of wreckage for that shred of vital first big break came from the Jogeshwari blast site where the BDDS sleuths found pressure cooker handles. The squad also traced charred pieces of aluminum lids of the cookers. Investigations by local police stations in their respective areas revealed that Kanchan pressure cookers were purchased from two shops in Santa got the first leads, ATS chief Krish Pal Singh Raghuvanshi put together a team. The team of four IPS officers and over 40 policemen worked overtime to crack the case. The arithmetic was simple: seven teams for seven blasts, assisted by two technical support teams. Intelligence was sought from IB, RAW and the state police. Raghuvanshi set the pace for the probe team. "We were humbled by our chief who himself slept for less than four hours every day for the first month," says an ATS official. The police began by detaining around 400 Muslims from across Maharashtra on grounds of suspicion. However, not a single clue led the investigators to the real culprits. It seemed to be a PHONE CALLSOn July 18, ATS intercepted telephone calls of a certain Mumtaz Choudhary of Navi Mumbai to Kamal Ahmed Ansari in Basupatti in Bihar, near Nepal border. What intrigued the investigators was the number of calls that were exchanged between the duo, and the location of Ansari, very close to the infamous Nepal border. While Choudhary's records seemed clean, it was Ansari who, according to IB, had been trained in Pakistan. A separate team of ATS officials flew to Bihar to arrest Ansari, while Choudhary was arrested from his house in Navi Mumbai. So dramatic was Ansari's arrest that an Indian Air Force aircraft was drafted to bring him to Mumbai. The other arrest was of a shoe shop owner Khalid Aziz Sheikh at Madhubani in Bihar. Ansari and other LeT operatives allegedly used the shop premises as a meeting Mumbai, another team of ATS was designated to investigate the alleged LeT leader Raheel Sheikh's involvement in the blast. He was wanted in the October 2005 blasts in Delhi. Raheel, although cornered in Mumbai, managed to escape. But a Crime Branch team cracked the connection while interrogating Pune based ex-SIMI activist Feroz Deshmukh. He revealed that Raheel had taken a loan of Rs 15,000 in May 2006 and promised him that a certain Noman would return it to him. The trail led to Noman who confirmed that he was supposed to collect the same amount from Faisal Sheikh. While the police couldn't get Raheel it managed to nab Faisal Sheikh, alleged to be closely associated with Azam Cheema, on July 27 from it turned out, is alleged to be the western India commander for LeT and one of the key players in the conspiracy. The loan loop only confirmed ATS' allegation of Raheel's links. Faisal's brother Muzzammil, was also arrested. Similarly Ehtesham Siddiqui, Maharashtra general secretary of SIMI, was arrested from Navi Mumbai after another accused Tanvir Ansari revealed that he was asked to pick up explosive substance by Siddiqui. Interestingly, investigators discovered a series of calls from a phone booth to Faisal's phone. The calls were by 25-yearold bar girl Manisha Chavan, who had been in a relationship with Faisal for 18 months. Manisha, who knew Faisal as Sameer, helped the police to identify him and corroborate their a sense the core had been cracked, but the police were careful to collect substantive evidence. This came from the narco-analysis tests of Faisal, Kamal Ansari and Siddiqui at the Forensic Sciences Laboratory at Bangalore. Although the tests could not be used as evidence against the accused, they helped the police in putting together pieces on how the blasts were carried out. The tests also confirmed that an unclaimed body from the blasts lying at the Sion hospital was that of Salim, a terrorist from Lahore who had planted one of the to Roy, the entire investigation was carried out in small logistical steps. "It has been a beautiful piece of highly professional investigation by our team," he says. Indeed scientific tests such as narco-analysis, telephone analysis and the cotton swab method to determine the presence of RDX gave the police quite a few clues. Tanvir Ansari also revealed during narco-analysis that he had guests from across the border. "Kuch mehman Pakistan se aaye the," he LINKSThe case may have been cracked but the police are yet to get answers for some vital questions. Even though the circumstantial evidence of ISI involvement through proxies and terror groups is clear, they will need conclusive evidence to make the charge of Pakistani involvement stick. Unlike the earlier bomb blast case, there have been no confessional statements as yet. The question, how the RDX came in through the Kandla port, is not the police have claimed that Abu Osama, the Pakistani national killed in an encounter at Antop Hill a few days after the blasts, was also one of the accused in the 7/11 blast case. When nine of the Pakistani accused fled the country, it is rather curious why Osama would stay back for a good 10 days before being killed in an Commissioner Roy is not perturbed by these. "We are not making any diplomatic or political statements. The accused are giving us vital information and admitting their guilt after being made aware of their repercussions. We don't have any reason to disbelieve the accused." When asked about the RDX trail, Roy said it needed to be there is more work to be done and the police hope to follow the missing links through further interrogations of those now in custody under the MCOCA. The idea is to use the law to convert any confession into evidence. Among the questions the police must be seeking answers to are how many groups have filtered through, how many modules are active and what the extent of the sleeper network in Maharashtra and elsewhere the evidence has to be credible but patching the missing links is vital not just to prove a point to Pakistan. Tying up the loose ends and the success of the investigations will be the first step towards preventing the next attack. Or else the loose ends could become the beginning of the next terror to India Today Magazine- EndsMust Watch
Time of India
22-07-2025
- Time of India
2006 Mumbai train blasts: Nothing about al-Qaeda manual, says Bombay HC; after 19 years behind bars, 11 men acquitted
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. Over two decades ago, bombs planted on first-class compartments exploded during the peak evening commute at seven locations on the Western Railway suburban network. You Can Also Check: Mumbai AQI | Weather in Mumbai | Bank Holidays in Mumbai | Public Holidays in Mumbai They ripped metal and lives between Khar Road and Santacruz, Bandra and Khar Road, Jogeshwari and Mahim Junction, Mira Road and Bhayander, Matunga and Mahim Junction, and Borivli. The prosecution case was of sophisticated explosive RDX being used, of accused being members of terror outfits like SIMI who received training in Pakistan, and of 15 wanted accused, mainly Pakistanis. While the trial court's special MCOCA judge Y D Shinde in 2015 said special public prosecutor Raja Thakare had rightly described the accused as "merchants of death" and Thakare argued that the trial verdict could not be dislodged and the noose be confirmed, the HC noted the prosecution case had unravelled completely. The HC also held that the prosecution failed to prove what kind of explosive was used. It said no importance can be attached to claims of recovery of RDX, circuit boards and detonators, as prosecution failed to prove custody chain before analysis. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 15 most beautiful women in the world Undo The dozen men were in prison all along since their arrests in 2006. While one of them died in 2021, the 11 whose appeals were allowed joined on Monday via video-conferencing from prisons across the state, including Pune's Yerawada and prisons in Nashik, Amravati and Nagpur. "Bahut bahut shukriya Sir," said a convict, in white prison uniform with a white topi, on video conference from Yerawada, when defence lawyer Yug Chaudhri, conveyed to them in Hindi that they all stood freed. The HC, in a detailed analysis of the case and evidence on record, said while "prosecution has referred to Al-Qaeda Manual for many things, nothing is brought on record about it." The prosecution case was that wanted accused Azam Cheema alias Babaji, a Pakistani national, and two of the accused given death sentence as planters had conspired since 1999 to wage war against the govt of India and were in touch with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Conspiracy meetings were held in Bandra and one accused brought six Pakistanis to Mumbai in 2006, ATS had said. HC wondered why no CDRs were brought on record. "The alleged connection of the accused with Azam Cheema and members of LeT could have been established with the help of CDRs," HC said. The HC classified prosecution witnesses in four categories: for identification, eyewitnesses of bomb assembly, of conspiracy, and taxi drivers who allegedly ferried two planters. The court discarded their testimonies as doubtful. For one who claimed to have been to a planter's (A3, an alleged 'jihadist') house where he allegedly saw a few Pakistanis whose names he recalled but did not know what the meeting was for, the HC, doubting his credibility, said that "at the same time, he could not recollect the name of a particular dancer, with whom he had a close relationship for over a month in the same year. " Kamal Ansari, given death sentence by the trial judge, died in 2021. He too stood acquitted by HC. Apart from convicts' appeals, before the HC was the state's reference for death sentence confirmation, as required by law for capital punishment to become executable. Thakare and Avdhoot Chimalkar for the state argued the appeals were fit to be dismissed. The conviction relied primarily on the confessions of 11 accused under the stringent MCOCA Act to nail them. Before HC, an alleged planter Naved Khan, from Nagpur prison, had said he suffered "needlessly for 19 years" and while lives were lost, innocents could not be hanged.
Deccan Herald
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Deccan Herald
Mumbai train blasts: As HC acquits all accused a look back at mastermind Azam Cheema's role
Mumbai: Pakistan-based terror operative Azam Cheema alias Babaji was the key accused who planned, coordinated and executed the 7/11 Mumbai train terror strikes. Cheema (also spelled Chima) was among the 15 wanted in the train bombings and figured in the charge sheet by the Anti-Terrorism Squad of the Mumbai Police before a special court set up under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act. Cheema died on February 28, 2024, aged around was the intelligence chief of Lashkar-e-Taiba and largely based in Bahawalpur in the Punjab Province of Pakistan. .7/11 Mumbai train blasts: Bombay High Court acquits all 12 accused; says prosecution 'utterly failed' to prove was considered close to LeT founder Hafiz Saeed and Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, the chief of operations of the LeT. Besides 7/11 train blasts, he had also played a role in the 26/11 fidayeen attacks in Mumbai. From 2008, till his death, he was the LeT operations advisor. 'Cheema has also been described as LeT's surveillance or intelligence chief and has been involved in LeT's training activities, specifically training LeT members in bomb making and skills needed to infiltrate India,' according to a document of US Department of the to investigations by Mumbai police, Cheema used to know Osama bin Laden and other top al Qaeda operatives. Besides, he was also close to late ISI chief Lieutenant General Hamid was an Afghan war veteran who was well-versed in reading maps, particularly those pertaining to India and known to provide training to terrorists.
News18
18-05-2025
- News18
Lashkar's Top Terrorist, Accused Of 2006 RSS HQ Attacks, Killed In Pakistan's Sindh
Last Updated: Saifullah was a close aide of the terror outfit's operational commander Azam Cheema alias Babaji. A top terrorist of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit has been killed in Sindh province in Pakistan. The terrorist, identified as Saifullah alias Vinod Kumar alias Mohammad Salim alias Khalid alias Vaniyal alias Wajid alias Salim Bhai, was killed today in Matli taluka of Badin district of Sindh province. Saifullah used to operate the terror outfit in Nepal. He was mainly tasked to provide cadres and financial help for LeT's terror activities. He was handling the LeT's terror activities in Nepal for a long time. Reportedly, he also used to infiltrate Lashkar terrorists into India via Nepal. Saifullah was a close aide of the terror outfit's operational commander Azam Cheema alias Babaji. He was operating in Nepal under the name of Vinod Kumar and had also married a Nepali girl named Nagma Banu. He was currently operating from Matli and was continuously recruiting terrorists for LeT. He was responsible for the recruitment of terrorist cadres from Nepal, funding, logistics and cross-India-Nepal border activities. He was involved in the attack on the RSS headquarters in Nagpur in 2006. Apart from this, he played a major role in the attack on CRPF Camp in Rampur. He was also involved in the conspiracy of the attack on IISc Bengaluru. First Published:
