Syed Manzoor pleads not guilty in Mumbai blasts case

Mumbai, Nov 30 (UNI) Syed Manzoor Ahmed, who was convicted by the designated TADA court in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, said he had nothing to do with the terror attacks but paid a heavy price for a glimpse of the bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt.

Pleading mercy, while recording his statement, Manzoor told the court, ''I am in jail for the last 11 years and paying a heavy price for only a chance to see Sanjay Dutt. I am falsely implicated in the case.'' He said that his only role in the crime was that he was accompanying extradited gangster Abu Salem while the weapon was being delivered to the residence of Dutt at Bandra.

He neither had any knowledge of the blasts nor about the delivery of the weapon. He had accompanied Salem only to get a glimpse of the filmstar, he said and prayed to the court to show leniency while awarding punishment.

Ahmed was convicted by the TADA court last week under section 3 (3) of TADA for destroying evidence by removing the AK-56 rifle and its cartridges on the direction by Salem, but was acquitted under section 120-B of the IPC for participating in the conspiracy of the blast.

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