Special TADA Court gave death penalty to Tahir Merchant and Feroze Abdul Rashid Khan, sentenced Abu Salem, Karimulla Khan to life and Riyaz Siddiqui to 10-years term for 1993 Mumbai serial blasts
Abu Salem
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Abu Salem sentenced to life imprisonment
Karimullah Khan gets life sentence
Tahir Merchant and Firoz Abdul Rashid Khan get death sentences in the 1993 serial blasts case
Riyaz Siddiqui sentenced to 10 years
The court had acquitted one accused named Abdul Kayuum Karim Shaikh. Few days after the judgment, special CBI counsel Deepak Salvi sought death sentence for Mustafa Dossa, Feroze Khan, Karimullah Khan and Tahir Merchant, on June 28, Dossa died in JJ Hospital, where he was admitted following high fever and hypertension.
The same TADA court earlier had a trial from the year 1995 to 2006, in which TADA court Judge Pramod Kode convicted 100, and acquitted 23 accused. The court awarded 12 death sentences and 20 life sentences. On March 21, 2013, SC upholds death sentence of convict Yakub Memon, brother of Tiger Memon, and commutes death sentence of 10 convicts to life term. Life imprisonment of 16 convicts also upheld. Life sentence of two reduced; sentence of six others enhanced to life term. Yakub was hanged in July 2015. Sanjay Dutt’s conviction only under Arms Act upheld; sentence reduced to 5 years of jail.
Also read - Most of them will get death penalty: Advocate on 1993 Mumbai blasts case
In the first trial, the prosecution had examined 686 witnesses; in the second trial the CBI counsel Deepak Salvi added more 64 witnesses and examined them. In total 750 witnesses statements are considered by the court. Around 40 witnesses out of 750 have turned hostile.
On March 12, 1993, the city of Bombay, witnessed unprecedented terrorist acts sending shock waves throughout the world. In a span of about two hours i.e., between 13:30 to 15:40 hours, a series of 12 bomb explosions took place one after the other at the following twelve places in Bombay, viz., Bombay Stock Exchange, Katha Bazaar, Lucky Petrol pump near Sena Bhavan, Opposite the Passport Office near Century Bazaar, Fishermen’s colony at Mahim Causeway, the basement of the Air India Building, Zaveri Bazaar, Hotel Sea Rock, Plaza Theatre, Centaur Hotel (Juhu), Sahar Air Port (Bay no. 54) and Centaur Hotel (Airport).
According to prosecution, the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya was demolished on December 6, 1992. As a repercussion of the demolition, violence broke out throughout the country. In order to take revenge of the demolition; members of the active organised crime syndicate under leaderships of Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar (Absconding Accused), Ibrahim Mushtaq Abdul Razak Nadim Memon alias Tiger Memon (Absconding Accused), the Dossa brothers [Mohammed Ahmed Umar Dossa alias Mohammed Dossa (Absconding Accused) and Mustafa Ahmed Umar Dossa @ Mustafa Dossa @ Mustafa Majnu , Eijaz Pathan (dead), Salim Kurla (dead), Anwar Theba (Absconding Accused), Shakeel Babumiyan Shaikh alias Chota Shakeel and Javed Chikna (Absconding Accused); together formulated a vengeful criminal conspiracy and were members of the criminal conspiracy whose object was to commit terrorist acts.
According to prosecution, the object of the crime was to commit terrorist acts with intent to overawe the Government as established by law, to strike terror in the people, to alienate sections of the people and to adversely affect the harmony against different sections of the people i.e. Hindus and Muslims by using bombs, dynamites and hand Grenades and other explosive substances.
Karimullah Khan
The same TADA court earlier had a trial from the year 1995 to 2006, in which TADA court Judge Pramod Kode convicted 100, and acquitted 23 accused. The court awarded 12 death sentences and 20 life sentences. On March 21, 2013, SC upheld death sentence of convict Yakub Memon, brother of Tiger Memon, and commuted death sentence of 10 convicts to life term. Life imprisonment of 16 convicts was also upheld. Life sentence of two reduced; sentence of six others enhanced to life term. Yakub was hanged in July 2015. Sanjay Dutt’s conviction only under Arms Act was upheld; sentence reduced to 5 years of jail.
In the first trial, the prosecution had examined 686 witnesses; in the second trial the CBI counsel Deepak Salvi added 64 more witnesses and examined them. In total 750 witnesses' statements were considered by the court. Around 40 witnesses out of 750 turned hostile.
Also read - Mumbai: Court to announce sentence in 1993 blasts case on September 7
On March 12, 1993, the city of Mumbai then Bombay, witnessed unprecedented terrorist acts sending shock waves throughout the world. In a span of about two hours i.e., between 13:30 to 15:40 hours, a series of 12 explosions took place one after the other at the following twelve places in the city, viz., Bombay Stock Exchange, Katha Bazaar, Lucky Petrol pump near Sena Bhavan, Opposite the Passport Office near Century Bazaar, Fishermen's colony at Mahim Causeway, the basement of the Air India Building, Zaveri Bazaar, Hotel Sea Rock, Plaza Theatre, Centaur Hotel (Juhu), Sahar Air Port (Bay no. 54) and Centaur Hotel (Airport).
Also read - 1993 Mumbai Blast Case: TADA court to announce quantum of sentence for accused
According to the prosecution, the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya was demolished on December 6, 1992. As a repercussion of the demolition, violence broke out throughout the country. In order to take revenge for the demolition; members of the active organised crime syndicate under leaderships of Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar (Absconding Accused), Ibrahim Mushtaq Abdul Razak Nadim Memon alias Tiger Memon (Absconding Accused), the Dossa brothers [Mohammed Ahmed Umar Dossa alias Mohammed Dossa (Absconding Accused) and Mustafa Ahmed Umar Dossa aka Mustafa Dossa aka Mustafa Majnu , Eijaz Pathan (dead), Salim Kurla (dead), Anwar Theba (Absconding Accused), Shakeel Babumiyan Shaikh alias Chota Shakeel and Javed Chikna (Absconding Accused); together formulated a vengeful criminal conspiracy whose object was to commit terrorist acts.
According to prosecution, the object of the crime was to commit terrorist acts with intent to overthrow the Government as established by law, to strike terror in the minds of people, to alienate sections of the public and to adversely affect the harmony against different religions i.e. Hindus and Muslims by using bombs like dynamites and hand Grenades and other explosive substances.
Also Read: 1993 Mumbai serial blasts: All you need to know about the 7 accused
(With inputs from Sailee Dhayalkar)
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