TADA court defers hearing on punishment to Memons till tomorrow

Mumbai, Sep 13 (UNI) A TADA court today deferred till tomorrow the hearing of the plea deciding the quantum of punishment to be given to the four members of the Memon family found guilty by the court yesterday, of allegedly masterminding the 1993 serial blasts here.

Counsel for the Memon family, senior advocate Harshad Poonda, sought time till tomorrow from designate Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) Judge P D Kode to argue the matter.

The court will also deliver its verdict tomorrow on accused Mohammad Sohieb, Mohammad Ghansar, Asgar Yusuf Mukadam, Abdul Gani Ismail Turk, Parvez Nazir Ahmed Sheikh and Basheer Ahmed Usman Gani Khairulla, who allegedly planted RDX at various places in Mumbai, triggering the serial blasts on March 12, 1993, which killed 257 people and injured 713 others besides damaging property worth crores of rupees.

Meanwhile, in a related development, while turning down an application moved by Gujarat police, seeking custody of extradited gangster and blasts accused Abu Salem in a case pending before a court in Gujarat, Justice Kode said, ''Salem is required by various courts in Mumbai, including the TADA court. Therefore at this juncture, custody will not be handed over to the Gujarat police.'' He said the custody would be given as per judicial directive only when his custody was not required by the Mumbai court.

Gujarat police officer, who was present in the court, today produced the copy of the production warrant, issued by additional district judge from Gujarat, directing the TADA Judge to hand over the custody of Salem to Gujarat police to enable them to produce him before them in a criminal case pending before him.

However, Mr Kode turned down the application.

UNI XR-KU HS AT HT1402