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1993 Mumbai blasts : Four of Memon family guilty

	September 18, 2006

Thirteen years after serial blasts rocked Mumbai killing 257 people, a special court has started pronouncing its verdict after a trial lasting nearly a decade. On the first day of the pronouncement of the verdict in one of the cases, the Court of Justice P.D. Kode convicted three brothers and a sister-in-law of the prime accused Tiger Memon, who is still absconding. The Mumbai Police have been unable to lay their hands on other prime accused in the blast cases, mafia don Dawood Ibrahim, and Anees Ibrahim apart from Tiger Memon who are all reported to have found shelter in Pakistan or in other countries. The Indian Government has requested the Pakistan government several times for the extradition of Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon, but to no avail.



Three other members of the Memon family - Tiger Memon’s mother, another brother and another sister-in-law - were let off by the Court giving them the benefit of doubt. The court is now hearing arguments on the quantum of sentence.



Tiger Memon’s brothers Yakub, Essa, Yusuf and sister-in-law Rubina were found guilty of conspiracy for the 13 blasts, including the ones at the Bombay Stock Exchange building and the Air India headquarters - in Mumbai on March 12, 1993.



Tiger Memon’s brother Suleman, mother Hanifa and sister-in-law Rahin were acquitted.



The judge is delivering the verdict in batches of eight as a large number of people - 123 - including actor Sanjay Dutt are accused in the case. Legal experts said it would take the court over two months to pronounce the final judgment. Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said the method adopted by the court is unique and it is happening for the first time. It would not take less than two months for the court to hand over the judgment.”



Tiger Memon’s father Abdul Razzak was also an accused, but the case against him was closed after he died during the course of the trial.



In its charge sheet, the CBI claimed that the blasts were masterminded by the underworld don Dawood Ibrahim with the help of his lieutenants Tiger Memon and Mohammed Dossa, at the instance of Pakistan’s intelligence agency, ISI, to avenge the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Dawood, Memon and Dossa are absconding. While Dawood was already abroad when the blats occurred, Memon and Dossa fled a day before.



The trial, held in a court inside a prison complex for security reasons, began in 1995 and concluded in 2003.



On Thursday, Sept. 14, delivering the verdict in another set of cases, the special court set up under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention ) Act, (TADA) pronounced Mohd. Shoib Ghansar guilty under several sections of TADA and the Indian Penal Code.



Ghansar had planted an RDX-laden scooter in Zaveri Bazaar on March 12, 1993. The blast had killed 17 people and injured 57 others. The proceedings began on Thursday with a discussion on the possibility of declaring all the accused under one charge - Guilty or Not Guilty. However, Justice Kode set that suggestion aside and instead pronounced his verdict on Ghansar.



The Judge said although two eyewitnesses had not identified Ghansar in the court during the stage of recording evidence, he relied on the confession of the accused and other evidence. However, there was not enough evidence to prove that Ghansar had participated in the landing of RDX at Shekhadi or facilitating the escape of Tiger Memon, one of the prime accused.



Justice Kode explained his findings on each charge. He said Ghansar was found guilty under Section 3 (2)(i) of TADA (committing a terrorist act resulting in death). Subsequently, he was also found guilty under the following Sections of the IPC - 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 326 and 324 (voluntarily causing hurt), 435, 436 (damage of property) - and several sections of the Explosive Substances Act.



The judge convicted Ghansar under Section 3(3) of TADA for his role in filling RDX in motor vehicles, which were used in other explosions that occurred the same day.





CBI seeks death penalty for Memon Brothers



During the hearing on the quantum of punishment, the CBI has sought death penalty for the three Memon brothers convicted in the Mumbai blasts case. It wants a life term for their sister-in-law Rubina who has also been convicted. Two of the Memon brothers, Essa and Yusuf, pleaded for leniency on grounds of health as they are suffering from serious diseases. Yakub Memon, a chartered accountant by profession, said he had been dragged into the case only because of his brother Ibrahim Abdul Razzak Memon alias Tiger Memon. He also sought to give a political turn to his pleading for a lesser punishment.



“Why are those named by the Srikrishna Commission not punished? At least start their trial. We have already been convicted,” said an emotional Yakub Memon when he was speaking in the TADA court. The four Memon family members who have been convicted had been called to make their statements regarding the conviction and on point of sentence.



Yakub went on to speak about the “chain reaction” in society. He said the real conspirators always “flee leaving the minors and innocent to face the heat.”



Referring to Hindu-Muslim conflicts, he said “it is important to break this cycle. We should think about the future generation.”



Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam objected to Yakub’s statements about the Srikrishna Commission and said the accused was making a political speech and should not be allowed to continue.



His sister-in-law Rubina requested for lesser sentence saying that the car carrying explosives that the police found and which was registered in her name, had been purchased before she married Suleiman Memon. She said that there was no one to look after her children.



Sanjay Dutt’s fate to be decided in month’s time



Film actor Sanjay Dutt, one of the accused in the case, has put his career on hold for the next couple of months till his fate is decided. He is accused of storing and destroying an AK-56 rifle and a 9 mm pistol at his Pali Hill home days before the 1993 blasts.



Dutt is charged with possession of arms under TADA and the Arms Act. He is also suspected of entertaining gangsters Anees Ibrahim, brother of Dawood Ibrahim, and Abu Salem, when they visited his house on a January evening in 1993. The onus was on him to prove the arms were not meant for a terrorist act.



Dutt has denied the charges. But observers say he still may land up in jail for anything ranging from life imprisonment to a minimum of five years.



Dutt has already spent 16 months in jail and is currently out on bail.



Although concerned about the verdict, the actor appears to have steeled himself for it in some ways. He recently told a TV channel, “Everyone has worries. One has to learn to face it.”



Sanjay Dutt’s plan for a week-end trip to Pune for a ‘puja’ was thwarted after the CBI objected to it.



Dutt’s lawyer Farhana Shah, who was seeking the court’s permission to ensure that the actor could go to Pune, did not press the plea after CBI counsel objected to the trip and the judge seemed inclined to reject the request.



Special judge P D Kode said since the process of delivery of judgment has begun, he could not permit the actor to leave. Besides, he said, it would act as a precedent.



Realising that the judge was not likely to permit the actor to travel, Farhana said she was not pressing for permission and the application was disposed of as withdrawn.