INDORE: For 60-year-old Zainuddin Bagwala and his 38-year-old nephew Huzefa Bagwala, the last 11 years have been nothing short of a nightmare. Zainuddin owns Abhinandan Bag Centre in Kothari Market, Indore, from where the cloth was reportedly sourced for stitching the suitcase covers in which unexploded bombs were found on the Samjhauta Express on February 18, 2007.
The cloth was selected by an unidentified man from Zainuddin’s shop and then stitched by Iqbal Hussain, a tailor, into the suitcase cover at the neighbouring MK Bag Center shop owned by Fakruddin Mohd Hussain, an elderly resident.
“An unidentified customer came to our shop possibly in Feb 2007 along with a 22-inch suitcase and selected the cloth for the suitcase cover. The covers were delivered to the customer the next day,” Zainuddin said.
A fortnight after a blast rocked the Samjhauta Express on February 18, 2007, killing 68, a team of Haryana police was in Indore at Zainuddin and Fakruddin’s shops, enquiring about the cover of the suitcases. Little did the Bagwalas know that their lives were about to change forever.
“Once it was confirmed that the cloth was sourced from my shop and stitched at the neighbouring MK Bag Centre, our ordeal started. Me, my nephew Huzefa, my shop worker Puran, MK Bag Centre’s owner Fakruddin and his tailor master Iqbal became regulars at different police stations and other places in Indore, where we were regularly questioned by the Haryana police. Particularly, Huzefa and Puran (who were present at the shop when the cloth was sourced for stitching suitcase covers) were detained for questioning and, at times, had to even spend 24 hours before Haryana police for questioning,” Zainuddin recounted.
“When our statements were recorded by the NIA in Delhi, we were shown a set of pictures on the laptop and asked whether the man who purchased the cloth was in that album. Since we no longer remembered details of the appearance of the man, we couldn’t give the required inputs to Haryana police or NIA for drawing the sketch of the suspect,” Huzefa said.
“In the beginning when we were questioned by Haryana police at Indore, some men were brought before us and police asked us to identify whether they included the suspect or not. A local officer later told us that those men were possibly related to SIMI,” recounted Huzefa.
After the judgment, Zainuddin, Fakruddin, Huzefa and Puran are relieved and pray that the nightmare doesn’t revisit their lives.
“Not only have we been under tremendous stress, but have had to shell out thousands of rupees on travelling for court hearings and questionings in Panipat, Delhi and Panchkula. I hope it’s all over now and we can live peacefully,” said one of them.
Repeated questioning
The witnesses were questioned at different locations in Indore and later summoned to Panipat. The Haryana police first investigated the case, which was later taken over by the NIA. The NIA also summoned and questioned them in Delhi. Their last appearance in court was in Panchkula possibly a year and a half back.