TADA court found Mushtaq Tarani guilty

Mumbai, Sep 27 (UNI) TADA court today found Mushtaq Tarani, yet another aide of prime absconding accused Tiger Memon, guilty for his involvement in 1993 serial bomb blasts here.

Designated TADA Judge P D Kode found him guilty under various sections including sections 3 (3) and 3(2)(i) of TADA (P) Act as also under section 3 and 4(a)(b) of Explosive Substances Act, and under sections 120-b, 307,324, 435 and 436 of the Indian Penal Code.

He was found guilty of all the 12 charges levelled against him.

The court in its order said that the confessional statement made by the accused which was later retracted, was accepted by the court as a true and voluntarily made confession as the other evidences indicate the involvement of the accused in the crime.

The court found him guilty of planting an RDX-laden bag in room number 3078 of hotel Centeur in suburban Juhu in the city which exploded causing injuries to three people and damaging property worth over Rs 2.10 crore on March 12, 1993, thus aiding, abetting and commiting terrorist acts.

He is also found guilty of planting an RDX-laden scooter at Shaikh Memon Street in south Mumbai which, however, did not explode.

The court also found him guilty of participating in a conspiracy meeting at hotel Taj Mahal here and for selecting targets of India's worst terror attack such as the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and Brihan-Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in the country's commercial and entertainment capital.

Meeting at the Taj Mahal hotel was allegedly convened by Tiger Memon. Besides Tarani, it was attended by another absconding accused, Javed Chikana and Mohmud Usman Jamkhan, the blast accused who later turned as an approver.

Wearing black colour shirt and jeans, clean shaven, strong built, fair looking Tarani was also found guilty for his involvement in selecting the target in order to plant bombs. He had also visited BSE building, financial nerve centre of the city and BMC building for selecting the targets.

The court has also accepted the evidence delivered by approver and the statement made by the eye witnesses who also identified the accused in the identification parade held at the court room. The eye witnesses included the injured people and hotel staff of juhu hotel where the blast occurred in 1993.

UNI

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