Twenty-four years after 12 blasts rocked the city killing 257 and leaving 713 grievously injured, a special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act court on Friday convicted six out of the seven accused, including Abu Salem and Mustafa Dossa. In the dock is a second batch of accused, tried by special judge Govind A Sanap, after the main trial of 123 accused ended in 2006 with the conviction of 100.
The court has set the next hearing date on June 19 (Monday) to decide the date for argument on quantum of sentence.
Others who were convicted include Feroz Khan, Taher Merchant, Riyaz Siddiqui, Karimulla Khan. The court pronounced the sentence after hearing arguments from the defence and the prosecution. Out of the six convicted by the Tada court, only five face the gallows. Riyaz Siddiqui will only attract life sentence as he is not held guilty of criminal conspiracy.
Abdul Qayyum Shaikh who has been acquitted by the court had allegedly sent arms and ammunition from abroad which landed at Dighi Jerry. He also had allegedly sold a licensed revolver to Sanjay Dutt in September 1992.
Special CBI counsel Deepak Salvi said trial for the seven, arrested between 2003 and 2010, had to be separated as they were nabbed after a substantial portion of the previous trial was completed.
With no other accused currently in custody, the Friday verdict was the last in the case for now. Thirty-three accused are absconding, including key conspirators Dawood Ibrahim, his brother Anees Ibrahim, Mustafa’s brother Mohammed Dossa and Tiger Memon.
In the first trial, at least 100 people were convicted for their involvement in the attack, including Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt who was found guilty of possession of arms. He completed his five-year sentence and was released early in 2016.
