Final verdict of 1993 blast trial on September 12

Mumbai, Aug 10: Commencing dictating its order in 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 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. Hence, he requested the court to proceed with the process of delivering the judgement.

He also said 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.

It may be recalled that on June 13, TADA court had separated the gangster's trial on a plea moved by CBI that the court had already concluded the trial in 2003 and the court is all set to deliver its verdict, therefore Salem trial be separated and should not be clubbed with other accused.

Following the separation of the trial, Salem filed the petition in the high court challenging the designated court order on the grounds that separation of his trial is the violation of the extradition agreement made between Portugal and India as per which the gangster was deported from Portugal.

The High Court was also told that Salem was brought to India to face the ongoing trial and not for a separate trial and it is the violation of the agreement. Upon hearing the salient plea earlier, the division bench consisting of Justice D G Deshpande and Justice S A Bobde had however refused to grant a stay on the pronouncement of the verdict, however, directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Maharashtra to file a reply on August 14.

While the court was announcing the commencement of its verdict, a pin drop silence was observed. Most of the accused looked depressed. However the accused who are on bail were seen silently listening to the argument made between the defence and prosecution. Some of them were seen silently chanting prayers. The wives of Yakub Memon and Suleiman Memon, the prime accused who masterminded the blast- Raheen Memon and Rubina Memon respectively who wore burkha also seemed depressed. Yakub Memon who wore white shirt and grey pant was seen whispering with other member of his family.

Cine star Sanjay Dutt who was sitting on the second last bench was chatting with the other blast accused. He was however in a tense mood. During the entire proceeding, he was sitting at one place and was carefully listening to the argument made by the advocates and observations made by the court.

Meanwhile, heavy police 'bandobast' was arranged outside the TADA court and inside the court premises. A large number of policemen in plain clothes were deployed at various point of the TADA court.

Senior IPS officer Aroop Patnaik was supervising the entire police deployment.

Even the large number of mediapersons were not allowed to enter the court premises due to shortage of space in the premises. Due to tight security, even the regular staff of the TADA court were asked to display their ID card.

One of the defence advocate Farhana Shah while talking to mediapersons said the court has fixed September 12 as the date of pronouncing the final verdict but it may take another one or two months for deciding the punishment awarded to the convicted.

She said according to the procedure, on september 12, the court may declare the names those acquitted and the names of the convicted if any. After that, the court will hear defence and prosecution.

The trial of 1993 serial blasts case began on June 30, 1995 and the same concluded in 2003, after the court examined 686 witnesses, two accused-turned-approvers and recorded evidences running into 14,000 pages. Ironically, the two prime accused --Dawood and Memon-- are still absconding. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had earlier issued red-corner notices against them and they have been declared as 'proclaimed offenders'.

On the day of the blasts, Tiger Memon allegedly bought new vehicles to transport the explosives. The explosives stored in different parts was brought in at a garage owned by him and hidden in artificial cavities made in the motors for the purpose at Memon's garage. The vehicles moved out the night before the blast.

The first blast hit the Bombay Stock Exchange at 1330 hrs and killed 84 people and injured more than 200. The next blast at around 1415 hrs was at Narsi Natha Street killing five and injuring 16. The third blast destroyed the Shiv Sena Bhavan at 1430 hrs, killing four and injuring 50 people. Century Bazaar at Worli was hit fifth, killing 113 and injuring 227, while next in line was Mahim Causeway where three people died and six were injured. Zaveri Bazaar was hit next killing 17 and injuring 57.

It was followed by Sea Rock Hotel at Bandra where there were no casualities. The ninth blast rocked Plaza Cinema and ten people died in the incident while 37 got injured. The tenth blast was at Juhu Centaur Hotel injuring three and the eleventh blast at 1530 hrs was at Sahar Airport with no injuries or death. The twelth blast was at Airport Centaur Hotel in which two died and eight people were injured while the last rocked the Air India Building.

It was, however, learnt during investigations that the other accused persons were sent to Pakistan via Dubai to recieve training in handling arms and ammunition. RDX and arms were shipped to Raingad in Maharashtra.

The main accused in the case, Farukh Pawle, who is in jail since 1993 was allegedly responsible for the blasts at Stock Exchange, Shiv Sena Bhavan and Air India Building, while Asgar Yusuf Mukadam and Shahnawaz Qureshi allegedly blasted Plaza Cinema. Abdul Turk was allegedly responsible for the blast at Century, which resulted in maximum loss of lives whereas Mohammed Gansar was held responsible for the blast at Zaveri Bazar. Parvez Shaikh was charged for two blasts at Katha Bazar and Sea Rock Hotel while Bashir Ahmed Ghani, Zakir Hussain Firoz Malik and Salim Shaikh were allegedly responsible for the blast at Mahim Fisherman's Colony.

Imtiyaz Gawte allegedly planted a bomb at Dhanji Street but it did not go off and Mohammed Iqbal allegedly planted one at Cross Roads resulting in the same. Mushtaq Tarani allegedly planted a bomb at Centaur Hotel at Juhu.

In the initial stages of investigation, Crime Branch CID was probing the case and had filed a chargesheet running into 10,000 pages. The probe was later handed over to CBI and on November 19, 1993, after the arrest of the accused persons, CBI recorded the confessional statements of all the blast accused.

The trial began on June 30, 1995 and Judge J N Patel, trying the case was elevated to the High Court in 1996, while Judge P D Kode took over and will now dictate the order.

Incidentally, at the time of the trial, all the accused retracted their confessions except the two accused-turned-approvers who stuck to their statements and delivered evidences against the accused.

Besides, 37 accused including extradited gangster Abu Salem and Yakub Memon are in custody. Also, 23 accused in the case had been discharged, including Samajwadi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Abu Asim Azmi by the TADA court.

Some of the accused died during the trial of the case, while two passed away in police custody, 10 were killed in gang wars and one was gunned down in a police encounter.

The court also examined a defence witness, a retired hand-writing expert, who reportedly delivered evidence about the hand-writing of Yakub Memon, which was later produced in the court as a vital piece of evidence.

It may be recalled that a series of 13 bomb explosions had rocked Mumbai on March 12, 1993, in which 257 people died, about 700 were injured and property worth several crores was destroyed.

UNI