HC verdict on 7/11 accused ‘shocking and disappointing’

{ INTERVIEW } A N ROY, FORMER POLICE COMMISSIONER

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MUMBAI: “Shocking and disappointing” is how A N Roy describes the acquittal of all 12 accused in the Mumbai serial train blasts case. Roy was Mumbai police commissioner when seven explosions ripped through local trains, Mumbai's lifeline, on July 11, 2006 ~ killing 188 people and injuring 817.

While acquitting the accused on Monday, the Bombay High Court pointed to glaring loopholes in the investigation, saying law-enforcing agencies were guilty of “creating a false appearance of having solved the case by presenting that the accused had been brought to justice”.

Roy retired in 2010 as Maharashtra director general of police. In an interview to Mayura Janwalkar, the senior IPS officer, who took the stand before the trial court as prosecution witness No 185, says he is “very proud that the investigation was done very professionally and independently”. Excerpts from an interview.

Can you recount the day of the blasts and the beginning of the investigation?

It all happened so quickly. Almost as soon as the news reached us, seven blasts had taken place in the trains. I visited the sites of all the explosions. It was the most ghastly incident.

The next day, the government handed the investigation from the Railway Police to the Mumbai Police, and we handed it over to the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). In almost all cases of serial bomb blasts since 1993, you always find some evidence at the site. But this was a ‘zero starting point’ to begin your investigation. With heavy rain, everything was washed out at the site.

Over time, a very thorough, painstaking and professional investigation was done. It took a few days but we started getting some inputs and we had some people arrested. After completing the investigation, we charge sheeted only 13 people.

Were the investigating agencies under any pressure, given the public outrage and political situation?