28 Charged In Mumbai Train Blasts
Associated Press
Friday, December 1, 2006; Page A20
MUMBAI, Nov. 30 -- Indian police filed formal charges against 28 people Thursday for suspected involvement in the July 11 train bombings in Mumbai that killed more than 200 people.
Thirteen of the accused are in police custody, and the rest are at large, public prosecutor Raja Thackeray said.
The 28 were charged with murder, handling explosive substances, committing terrorist acts and causing damage to public property in Mumbai, formerly called Bombay.
If convicted, they could face the death penalty.
Police say the 28 suspects belong to Lashkar-i-Taiba, a Pakistan-based Islamic militant group, as well as the Students Islamic Movement of India, a banned group based in northern India. Police also have alleged that Pakistan's Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence was behind the bombings. Pakistan has denied the accusation.
The charge sheet, running 10,667 pages, said nine of the 15 accused who are at large are Pakistani nationals, according to Naval Bajaj, deputy commissioner of police in Mumbai. The remaining six are Indians who operate out of Pakistan and Nepal, Bajaj said.
Apart from those charged Thursday, one suspect known only as "Salim," died in the train bombing in July. Another suspect, Abu Asama, was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police in August, Bajaj said.
