Curtains come down on Mumbai serial blasts case

Mumbai, July 31: With the designated TADA court handing down sentences to Sanjay Dutt and two of his friends while releasing the third the curtains finally came down today on one of the country's lengthiest judicial case, the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.

The case would be remembered not only for the twists and turns it witnessed in the last 14-odd years, but also for being one of the unique trials in the country's judicial history.

A total of 193 persons were named in the case of whom 27 were dicharged by the court, two others discharged by the Apex court and two turned approver. As many as 22 of those named as accused, including key members of the most wanted Tiger Memon family, are still absconding. During the course of the trials, thirteen of the accused died, while the court finally convicted 100 of them.

As many as 686 witnesses testified before the special court, and 35,000 pages, containing 14,000 issues of evidence, were submitted by the prosecution. The trial into the case began on June 30, 1995 and concluded in 2003.

Of the 100 convicted, twelve were awarded the death sentence, including Yaqub Memon, brother of prime absconding accused Tiger Memon. This is the second case in which so many death sentences have been awarded, the first being the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

The entire trial proceedings were held in the premises of the Arthur Road jail, which lodges the largest number of undertrials than anywhere in Asia. A barrack in the jail was converted into the courtroom.

The process of pronouncing the judgement commenced on September 12, 2006 and ended today. It took nearly eight months to award sentences upon all the convicts. Special TADA court judge P D Kode, who presided over the trials, has indicated that his full judgement will range over several thousands of pages.

The ghastly 1993 blasts were triggered at the instance of the Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and shook the very core of India' financial hub, claiming 257 lives besides leaving 713 injured and damaging property worth Rs 27 crore. The blasts were triggered to avenge the death of Muslims who were killed during the communal carnage in the metropolis in the aftermath of the demolition of the ''Babri Masjid'' in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992.

The conspiratorial meeting to carry out the blasts was held in Dubai and was attended by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, Tiger Memon and others. Ironically, the two prime accused -- Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon -- are still absconding. A ''red corner'' notice, declaring them as proclaimed offenders, has been issued by the prosecuting agency CBI and is still in effect.

On the days preceding the blasts, Tiger Memon had allegedly bought new vehicles to transport the explosives, which were kept in the garage of his Al-Husseini residence at Mahim here. The explosives-laden vehicles were moved out the night before the blasts.

The first blast hit the Bombay Stock Exchange at 1330 hrs on March 12, 1993 killing 84 people and injured more than 200. The next blast, at around 1415 hrs, was at Narsi Natha Street leaving five dead and injuring 16. The third blast, at 1430 hrs, destroyed the Shiv Sena Bhavan, killing four persons and injured 50 others.

Century Bazaar at Worli was the fifth target in which 113 people were killed and 227 injured. The blast at Mahim Causeway left three dead and injured six. At Zaveri Bazaar, 17 people wre killed and 57 injured.

It was followed by Sea Rock Hotel at Bandra where, fortunately, there were no casualities. The ninth blast rocked Plaza Cinema, killing ten people and injuring 37. The tenth blast at Juhu's Centaur Hotel injured three persons, while the eleventh blast occurred at Sahar Airport where also there was no harm to life. The twelfth blast was carried out at the Airport Centaur Hotel, where two persons were killed and eight injured. The last blast rocked the Air India Building.

It was learnt during investigations that the other accused persons were sent to Pakistan via Dubai to recieve training in handling arms and ammunition. The deadly RDX and arms were landed in the coastal Raigad region of Maharashtra. The main convict among the others in the case, Farukh Pawle, was responsible for the blasts at Shiv Sena Bhavan and Air India Building, while Asgar Yusuf Mukadam and Shahnawaz Qureshi planted bomb at Plaza Cinema.

Abdul Turk was held responsible for the blast at Century, which resulted in maximum loss of lives whereas Mohammed Gansar was held responsible for the blast at Zaveri Bazar. Parvez Shaikh was charged for two blasts at Katha Bazar and Sea Rock Hotel.

Similarly, Bashir Ahmed Ghani, Zakir Hussain Firoz Malik and Salim Shaikh were responsible for the blast at Mahim Fisherman's Colony. All of them have been given death penalty besides Yakub Memon who had been held liable for conspiracy.

Imtiyaz Gawte planted a bomb at Dhanji Street but it did not go off and Mohammed Iqbal planted one at Cross Roads which also did not go off.

Mushtaq Tarani planted a bomb at Centaur Hotel at Juhu.

Both Tarani and Iqbal were also given death penalty but Gawte was given lesser punishment as he is suffering from AIDS.

In the initial stages of investigation, Crime Branch CID which was probing the case, had also filed a chargesheet. However, the entire investigation was later on handed over to CBI.

On November 19, 1993, after the arrest of the accused persons, CBI recorded the confessional statements of all the blast accused.

The trial began on June 13, 1995 Judge J N Patel, trying the case was elevated to the High Court in 1996, following which the present Judge P D Kode took over from him in 1996.

Incidentally, at the time of the trial, all the accused retracted their confessions except the two accused-turned-approvers who stuck to their statements and delivered evidence against most of the convicts.

Also, 23 accused in the case had been discharged, including Samajwadi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Abu Asim Azmi, who was discharged by the Supreme Court.

Some of the accused died during the trial of the case, while two died in police custody, 10 were killed in gang wars and one was gunned down in a police encounter. Ejaz Pathan, a hardened gangster, who was given a 10 year jail term, died five days after the sentencing.

The court also examined a defence witness, a retired hand-writing expert, who reportedly delivered evidence about the hand-writing of Yakub Memon, which was later produced in the court as a vital piece of evidence.

UNI