2003 Mumbai twin blasts case: 3 convicts get death sentence

Mumbai, Aug 6 (ANI): A special Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court on Thursday awarded the death sentence to all three accused in the 2003 Mumbai twin blasts case.

Hanif Syed and his wife Fehmida have been found guilty of planting the bomb at the Gateway of India. Ashrat Ansari delivered the bomb at Zaveri Bazaar.

Calling it a "rarest of rare" case, Special Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said the trio had "enjoyed their act of killing".

The court observed that "it was the murder charges levelled against the three that led the court to give death penalty".

They have been convicted under various Sections of the IPC for conspiracy, murder and attempt to murder, Sections of the POTA, the Explosive Substances Act and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.

On August 25, 2003, two bombs left in taxis exploded in south Mumbai - the Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar in the busy Kalbadevi area, killing 52 people and wounding more than a hundred others.

The attacks were carried out to "avenge" the deaths of Muslims during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

It is the most awaited judgement in a terrorist case after the Special TADA Court completed the March 2, 1993, serial blasts trial in 2007, which led to the conviction of 100 people, including Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt. (ANI)