Mumbai train blasts accused alleges fake encounter by ATS

Ethesham Siddiqui, the petitioner, claims he had seen Ali in ATS's custody a day before he was killed in the encounter on August 22, 2006.

Ali was shot down by ATS team in a building in suburban Wadala. He was accused of being a Pakistani militant.

Ethesham ,however, alleges that Ali was detained by ATS a day before, and was interrogated at the ATS's Kalachowkie office in south Mumbai.

"Ethesham, who is an accused in the July 11 train blasts case, was also present at the ATS office for interrogation. He was put up in the same lock-up as Ali. Former DIG D G Vanzara, who was with Gujarat ATS then, questioned both Ethesham and Ali in relation with another case," Ethesham's lawyer advocate Naima Shaikh said in the court today.

She said that Ethesham learnt of the encounter in February 2007, and had been seeking information on it through the RTI queries since then.

The petition seeks a judicial inquiry of the encounter and also of Vanzara's role. Vanzara is presently in Gujarat's Sabarmati jail as an accused in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case.

The division bench of Justices S A Bobade and Mridula Bhatkar however questioned the delay in approaching the court. "You claim the encounter happened in 2006 and you came to know of it in 2007. Why have you come to court now after five years?" Justice Bobade asked.

Advocate Shaikh said the petitioner was collecting information before approaching the court.

The bench directed the petitioner to submit all the documents obtained through RTI by June 28, the next date of hearing.