Mumbai, January 22: A witness in the 2006 Mumbai serial train blasts case was declared hostile by the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court today after he retracted the statement recorded before a magistrate earlier.
The witness (not named) had told the magistrate that his residence in Mumbra was used by two of the accused for hatching the conspiracy, but in the court, he denied having said that.
“The witness was declared hostile by the MCOCA court after he said that his statement had been recorded under duress”, said advocate Khan Abdul Wahab, who represents one of the accused in the case.
The witness in his statement before the magistrate had said that his relatives and accused Sajid Ansari and Wahid Sheikh held two meetings at his house prior to the blasts.
Seven blasts in suburban trains during evening peak hour on July 11, 2006 killed 188 people and injured over 800.
Kamal Ahamed Ansari (37), Dr Tanvir Ahmed Ansari (37), Mohd Faisal Shaikh (36), Ehtesham Siddiqui (30), Mohammad Majid Shafi (32), Shaikh alam Shaikh (41), Mohd Sajid Ansari (34), Abdul Wahid Shaikh (34), Muzzammil Shaikh (27), Soheil Mehmood Shaikh (43), Zamir Ahmad Shaikh (36), Naveed Hussain Khan (30), Asif Khan (38) are the accused arrested by Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).
–PTI