Rival dons defend Sanjay in Mumbai blasts case

Lucknow, Sep 12 (UNI) Even as the TADA court delivered its first verdict in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, two underworld dons defended cine actor Sanjay Dutt over his alleged involvement in the blasts which left 257 dead.

Both Om Prakash alias Babloo Srivastava and Noor Baksh alias Noora claimed that the country's most wanted criminal Dawood Ibrahim and his aide Abu Salem were involved in the crime.

''Dawood was directly involved in the Mumbai blasts... he along with the custom official who cleared the consignment containing explosives in 1993, should be nailed,'' Babloo told reporters outside a local court here where he appeared in a case.

Babloo Srivastava, presently lodged in Bareilly jail, said Sanjay Dutt might have a fetish for arms but his involvement in the Mumbai blasts was just too far fetched a conclusion.

Noora, a rival of Babloo and a shooter of Dawood at one time too was present in a local court. He said ''Dawood bhai was definitely involved in the serial bomb blasts...he was under pressure from ISI to carry out the task.'' He maintained that Abu Salem was the one who worked as a carrier of weapons and explosives for the blasts.

He claimed that Dawood wanted to return to India but was worried about the punishment.

On Sanjay Dutt, Noora claimed that the actor was innocent as he was unaware that an assault rifle and a Mauser pistol were being kept at his house.

The cine star was booked under TADA after an AK 56 assault rifle was recovered from his residential premises more than a decade ago.

Once a close aide of Dawood who later parted ways, Babloo said the former had not only masterminded the Mumbai blasts in 1993 but also oversaw its execution.

Babloo, who is languishing in the jail since the last one decade, has been convicted in a case and recently sentenced to life.

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