MUMBAI: While granting bail to Faisal Ataur Rehman Shaikh, a life convict in the Aurangabad arms haul case of 2006, the Bombay High Court on Monday said he had “every likelihood of succeeding” in his appeal against conviction. It observed that the confessions the prosecution had relied on in the arms haul case were made in the 7/11 Mumbai train blasts case of 2006, in which the high court had acquitted all12 accused, including Shaikh.
Shaikh was among the 12 men acquitted in July last year, in the 7/11 Mumbai train blasts case of 2006. While ten of the 12 acquitted men walked out of prison in July 2025, Shaikh was the only one who remained in Yerwada Jail, as a convict in the Aurangabad arms haul case.
On May 8, 2006, the Maharashtra Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS) chased two cars on the Chandwad-Manmad highway near Aurangabad and arrested three persons. The ATS also seized arms and explosives from the vehicles.
Shaikh has been in prison since his arrest in 2006 in the Mumbai train bomb blasts case. In 2007, while still in custody, he was made an accused in the Aurangabad arms haul case too. He was convicted under the UAPA in July 2016 and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Hearing his bail plea while his appeal against conviction is pending, the high court said that under the UAPA, bail could be granted only in exceptional circumstances and Shaikh’s case, the court said, was exceptional.