Convict in Mumbai blasts case dies at hospital
Nagpur, Feb 11: Mohammad Hanif Syed, one of the three convicts sentenced to death in the 2003 Mumbai twin bomb blasts and currently lodged in the Nagpur Central Jail, died at a hospital, a prison officer said.
Syed's health suddenly deteriorated Saturday evening, following which he was shifted to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) where he died one and half hours after admission, Jail Superintendent Rani Bhosle told PTI Sunday night.
"The exact cause of his death will be known after post-mortem which will be conducted Monday in the presence of his relatives who have arrived in the city Sunday," she said, adding that Syed's body will be handed over to his relatives after autopsy.
As per preliminary information and symptoms, he could have died of a cardiac arrest, Bhosle said.
13/7 Mumbai blasts: Justice done, but wounds still remain
Syed, his wife Fehmida and third conspirator Ashrat Ansari were convicted by a POTA (Prevention of Terrorist Activity) court in 2009 of planting powerful bombs in two taxis which exploded at the iconic Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar on August 25, 2003, leaving 52 people dead and 244 injured.
Syed was shifted to the Nagpur Central Jail from Yerwada jail in 2012, after the Bombay high court upheld his death sentence.
The
Lashkar-e-Toiba's
role
in
the
twin
blasts
was
revealed
by
an
accused-turned-approver.
It
was
for
the
first
time
that
the
LeT
had
used
a
family
to
carry
out
bomb
blasts
in
the
country.