Mumbai Train Blasts Probe Unresolved 20 Years Later After High Court Acquittals

On the 20th anniversary of the July 11, 2006 Mumbai train serial blasts, the investigation into the terror attacks remains unresolved following the Bombay High Court's wholesale acquittal of the accused last year. The coordinated bombings, which targeted first-class compartments of seven local trains in Mumbai, killed 187 people and injured 817 others.

In July 2025, a Bombay High Court Special Bench of Justices Anil S Kilor and Shyam C Chandak acquitted the 12 remaining accused, overturning a September 2015 ruling by a Special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) Court. The special court had previously found them guilty, sentencing five to death and seven to life imprisonment. A thirteenth arrested individual passed away in prison during the pandemic prior to the High Court's ruling.

In a scathing 667-page order, the High Court held that the prosecution "utterly failed to establish the offences beyond a reasonable doubt against the accused on each count." The bench raised serious doubts about the probe, questioning the veracity of "identical confessions" made by 11 of the accused, pointing to allegations of custodial torture, and noting a lack of reliable material to invoke stringent anti-terror laws. The justices stated that "creating a false appearance of having solved a case... gives a misleading sense of resolution" and "undermines public trust."

Following the acquittals, the Maharashtra state government appealed to the Supreme Court of India. The apex court stayed the High Court verdict only to the extent that it would not be treated as a precedent in other matters, refusing to interfere with the ruling on the innocence and acquittal of the accused.

The original investigation was conducted by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), then led by K P Raghuvanshi. The ATS concluded that the attack was orchestrated by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) with assistance from members of the banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Three months after the blasts, then Mumbai Police Commissioner A N Roy praised the ATS investigation, stating explosives were placed in pressure cookers on the trains.

However, the ATS probe was later challenged by alternative claims. In 2008, the Mumbai Police Crime Branch arrested Sadiq Shaikh, an alleged Indian Mujahideen (IM) member, who claimed his group planted the bombs. In 2013, alleged IM co-founder Yasin Bhatkal also claimed the outfit carried out the blasts in retaliation for the 2002 Gujarat riots. The ATS dismissed these claims due to a lack of proof.

When contacted, former ATS chief Raghuvanshi declined to comment on the developments, stating that the matter is sub-judice.