CBI seeks death penalty to 44 accused in 1993 blasts case

Mumbai, Feb 15 (UNI) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today sought death penalty to 44 of the total 100 accused, including four members of the Memon family, for their involvement in the serial blasts case that rocked the metropolis on March 12, 1993.

Senior CBI lawyer N Natrajan, arguing before designated TADA Judge P D Kode on the quantum of maximum sentence, said terrorism has transgressed from state-level to global level and therefore, deterrent capital punishment should be given to them.

He cited the Supreme Court judgment in the 2001 Parliament attack case and said the apex court has rightly awarded death penalty to the main accused Mohammed Afzel.

The total accused in the Mumbai blast case were segregated into 3 groups -- 47 faced 120 B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and charges under Terrorism and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), 44 face TADA charges and 9 others face charges under other acts like Customs and Arms Act.

As far as Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt and his 3 associates, who had applied for provision of Offenders' Act, Special Public Prosecutor Ujwal Nikam had earlier demanded for maximum punishment.

Of the group of 47, the CBI has asked for lesser punishment to Rubina Memon, the wife of Suleman Memon, on the ground of being a woman and mother of 2 children.

It also asked for lesser punishment to two other women convicts in the second group. They are Mudina Baya and Zaibunisa Qazi.

In the first group, the CBI sought lesser punishment for Imtiaz Gawate, an associate of Tiger Memon and Somnath Thapa, dismissed additional customs collector, as they suffer from various ailments.

This means that at least 44 of total 47 face death sentence, which includes planters like Asgar Mukadam, Shoaib Ghansar, Shahnawaz Qureshi, Afdul Ghani Turk, Parvez Sheikh, Naseem Barmare, Mushtaq Tarani, Farouq Pawle, Zakir Sheikh, Abdul Khan, Firoz Malik and Moin Qureshi.

UNI