1993 Mumbai blasts convict dies in Pune hospital

Mohammad Tahir Merchant alias Tahir Taklya, convicted in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, died in Sassoon General Hospital in Pune on Wednesday, police said. He was lodged in city-based Yerwada Central Jail.

“We got the information about his death from Sassoon Hospital. That is all I can say at the moment,” senior police inspector Mukund Mahajan of Yerawada police station said. “Tahir Merchant was admitted after he complained of chest pain. However, he died during treatment around 3.45am,” Bhushankumar Upadhyay, additional director general of prisons department, said.

“I do not know the exact number but his family members visited him on several occasions. He had angioplasty for a few years. I think from 2014, he began taking medicine for heart condition. He was taken to Sassoon and we got a report of his death early morning,” said UT Pawar, superintendent of Yerwada central jail.

Tahir was extradited to India from Abu Dhabi and arrested by the CBI on June 8, 2010, for his role in the 12 serial blasts on March 12, 1993 that claimed 257 lives. The Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (TADA) court in Mumbai sentenced Tahir to death on September 7, 2017, along with Feroz Rashid Khan.

The Supreme Court stayed his death sentence in December 2017.

While convicting him, the Mumbai court observed, “Tahir knowingly, wilfully, consciously and deliberately organised and actively participated in several conspiracy meetings in order to exact revenge. Prosecution pro- ved that his role is communal and that he is one of the initiators of the conspiracy. Tahir, with his kind of indulgence, must be held directly responsible for the bla- sts. Merchant worked with (ano- ther convict) Tiger Memon...”

Two other convicts, Abu Salem and Karimullah Khan, were sentenced with life imprisonment, while Riyaz Siddiqui was sent to jail for 10 years.

In 2007, the court convicted 100 people. Mustafa Dossa, convicted in September 2017, died on June 28, 2017, in Mumbai. Yakub Me- mon, brother of Tiger Memon, was sent to the gallows, while ac- tor Sanjay Dutt served five years in prison following his conviction under the Arms Act. Dawood Ibrahim, the prime accused in the blasts case, is still at large.

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