7/11: Call records of accused destroyed, Maharashtra ATS tells HC

Mumbai: Maharashtra's Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) probing the 2006 suburban train blasts, filed an affidavit in the Bombay High Court on Monday saying that it had destroyed call data records (CDRs) of all the 13 accused. The affidavit, filed by Sunil Wadke, who was then a police inspector attached to the technical unit cell of ATS, said that a year after obtaining the information in the form of soft copies, it was deleted from the record.

This was done after the chargesheet was filed in MCOCA Court in November 2006 end, he said, adding that none of the CDRs relating to mobile phones were relied upon by the prosecution or formed part of the chargesheet. The July 11 train blasts had killed 188 and injured 823.

The 13 alleged SIMI members facing trial for the 7/11 blasts had moved the High Court challenging the MCOCA special court's order refusing to allow examination of three DCPs who allegedly recorded statements of three Indian Mujahideen (IM) members and production of CDRs the ATS was using against them. IM had claimed responsibility for all blasts in the country after 2005.

The July 11 train blasts had killed 188 and injured 823.

Defence lawyer Yug Chaudhary argued that the ATS had made "tall claims" about the accused having links with Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). "If the CDRs had evidence showing links with LeT, would they (ATS) destroy them?" he asked.

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