’93 blasts: Death for 2, life term for Salem
5 sentenced in Mumbai after 24 years
The Special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (Tada) court on Thursday pronounced the quantum of punishment for five convicts in the March 12, 1993 serial blasts case, awarding death sentences to Firoz Khan and Tahir “Taklya” Merchant, life terms to Abu Salem and Karimullah Khan, and a 10-year jail term to Riyaz Siddiqui.
The verdict came 24 years after 13 blasts ripped apart the city, killing 257 people and injuring 713 others. A total of 30 accused, including the alleged masterminds — underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon, are still absconding.
On Thursday, Special Tada Judge G.A. Sanap awarded punishment under various sections of Tada, the Indian Penal Code, Explosives Act, Explosive Substances Act and Destruction of Public Property Act. The court said all the accused would have to go through all the punishment concurrently. The court also set off the sentence of the accused against the jail terms they had already served, but clarified Salem’s term would be set off from the date of his arrest in India, and not keeping in mind the punishment he had undergone in Portugal.
Subsequently, the court imposed fines of `4.75 lakhs, `8.88 lakhs, `4.85 lakhs, `8.51 lakhs and `10,000 on Firoz Khan, Karimullah Khan, Merchant, Salem and Siddiqui respectively.
The court at the end said victims and family members of the deceased would be given compensation, as per the Criminal Procedure Code, and directed the Central Bureau of Investigation’s Mumbai superintendent of police to list the names of all the deceased and injured victims within 15 days and submit it to the district legal services. The court then directed the district legal services to distribute the compensation amount.
On March 12, Ibrahim and his accomplices — seeking to take revenge for the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya — targeted important sites in the city like the Air India building, Shiv Sena Bhavan, Dadar’s Plaza cinema, Zaveri Bazar and the Centaur Hotel in Juhu. Officials said vast quantities of RDX were used in this operation.
Initially, 123 people were arrested, of which 100 were convicted in September 2006, but later Salem, Merchant, Karimullah Khan, Siddiqui, Firoz Khan, Abdul Qayuum and gangster Mustafa Dossa were arrested and a separate trial took place in the special Tada court.
On June 16, the court held the accused guilty after which that the
Continued from Page 1 prosecution and defence argued for the quantum of sentence to the accused.
The court, while convicting the accused, held that the prosecution had proven that Salem was one of the key conspirators and he had delivered three AK-56 rifles, ammunition and hand grenades to actor Sanjay Dutt. He also allegedly participated in bringing weapons and ammunition to Mumbai. The court had also held Merchant was amongst the main conspirators as he attended several conspiracy meetings in Dubai. He also made travel arrangements and financed several coaccused and facilitated their training in Pakistan, the court had observed.
Firoz Khan, a prominent member of the Dossa gang, was present for negotiations with customs officers to ensure the smooth landing of arms and ammunition. He also allegedly attended main conspiracy meetings in Dubai and Mumbai, the court said.