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Verdict 1993 Mumbai blasts : More convictions, Sanjay’s fate to be decided next month |
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The special TADA court in Mumbai continues to pronounce its verdict on the long list of accused in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case. The court convicted Dawood’s aides Uttam Potdar and Salim Mira Sheikh for helping land arms and explosives used in the serial blasts in Raigad district in January 1993.
On Tuesday, October 17, three persons were convicted in the serial blasts case. Two persons were acquitted. Sayyed Abdul Rehman Shaikh, Manoj Gupta and Mohammad Kasam Lajpuria were found guilty of aiding blasts mastermind Tiger Memon.
Four persons - Muzamil Umar Kadri, Khalil Ahmed Sayeed Nazir, Ghulam Hafeez Shaikh and Tusiram Surve - were convicted a day earlier for helping Tiger Memon land arms and ammunition used for the 1993 blasts at Shekhadi in Raigad district and transport them to Mumbai. However, the court acquitted another accused, Anant Bhoir for lack of evidence.
Till Oct. 18, the Court has pronounced judgments against 71 accused, of whom 19 have been acquitted and 52 convicted.
Actor Sanjay Dutt and 21 others, who are out on bail, were in the TADA court at the Arthur Road jail premises to mark their attendance in the serial bomb blast, case in which they are among the accused. The actor’s next visit, probably in the second week of next month is likely to be the day when he will know his fate in the case.
The charges against the actor are that he possessed and destroyed an AK-56 rifle and hence committed an offence not only under the Arms Act, but also under the TADA both of which attract a minimum of five years’ sentence. Under TADA, the maximum punishment is life imprisonment while under the Arms Act it is 10 years. Dutt has denied the charges and also retracted his confessional statement.
The CBI has argued that blasts accused Baba Musa Chohan, Samir Hingora, Hanif Kadawala and Abu Salem had gone to Dutt’s Bandra residence at the instance of the underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Anees with a car loaded with arms and hand grenades. Dutt allegedly kept one AK 56- and returned the rest. The actor later allegedly destroyed his rifle.
Explosives seized : Capital on high alert
With Pakistan-based terrorist organisations showing no signs of giving up their terror attacks in India, security was beefed up across the country last week in view of the Deepavali festival and the Id this on October 25. Two alleged operatives of the Pakistan-based militant outfit, Lashkar-e-Taiba, were arrested by Delhi Police from the Old Delhi Railway Station on Monday, Oct. 16. They were found in possession of plastic explosives apparently for terror strikes in the capital on or before Diwali.
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