Mumbai: A Special TADA Court this morning convicted extradited gangster Abu Salem and five others in the 1993 Mumbai Blast case. The court convicted Mustafa Dossa, Firoz Abdul Rashid Khan, Tahir Merchant, Karimullah Sheikh and Riyaz Siddiqui.
However, Abdul Quayyum, who was charged with delivering weapons to actor Sanjay Dutt, was acquitted. The Court will announce the sentence on June 19.
The Mumbai blasts had killed 257 people and injured around 713 others between 1.30 pm and 3.40 pm on Mar.12, 1993.
Mustafa Dossa, Abu Salem, Feroz Abdul Rashid Khan, Taher Merchant, Riyaz Siddiqui, Abdul Qayyum Shaikh and Karimullah Khan faced multiple charges including criminal conspiracy, waging war against the Government of India and murder under relevant Sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA). The seven accused were also charged under Sections of the Indian Explosives Act and Explosive Substances Act.
The prime targeted locations included the Air India Building, Bombay Stock Exchange, Zaveri Bazar, then existing five star hotels, Hotel Sea Rock and Hotel Juhu Centaur and others leading to the damage of public and private properties worth Rs. 27 crore. In the first leg of the trial that concluded in 2007, the anti-terrorism court had convicted 100 people, out of which, 23 were acquitted. In 2015, Yakub Memon was hanged in connection with the same case.
As the seven accused were absconding during the commencement of the earlier trial, the trial of these accused was held separately.
This post was published on June 16, 2017 6:48 pm