Final verdict of 1993 blast trial on september 12

Mumbai, Aug 10: Commencing dictating its order the 1993 serial blasts case, a TADA court today held that the final verdict in the case will be delivered on september 12.

During the process of dictating the verdict, defence advocate Farhana Shah moved an application and argued before the court that extradicted gangster Abu Salem had challenged separation of his trial in the Bombay High Court which had fixed August 14 as the date of hearing.

She also said that she is not representing Abu Salem but a large number of other accused and it is her duty to inform the court that such a plea is pending before the high court. She also said that she is not pressing for a stay on the process of dictating the judgement.

The court, however, did not take into consideration the submission made by Farhana Shah and agreed with the agrument made by Special Public Prosecutor Ujwal Nikam who told the court that the high court had neither admitted the gangster's plea nor stayed the process of dictating the order by the TADA court. Hense, he requested the court to proceed with the process of delivering the judgement.

He also said that even the maintainability of Salem's petition is in question before the high court as the order passed by the designated TADA court can only be challenged before the Apex court and not before the high court.

UNI*