1993 Mumbai serial blasts case: TADA court to give verdict against Abu Salem, 4 others on September 7

A special court constituted under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act will pronounce its sentence against five convicts, including gangster Abu Salem, on September 7. On June 16, 2017, the TADA court convicted six accused, including Salem and Mustafa Dossa. Dossa died of a heart attack on June 28, 2017. The others convicted by the court include Firoz Khan, Mohammed Tahir Merchant alias Tahir Taklya, Karimullah Khan and Riyaz Ahmed Siddique. The court acquitted Abdul Qayoom Ansari for lack of evidence. The court rejected prosecution’s plea to convict the accused on charges of waging war against the country, but convicted the accused under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and TADA. The court had announced its verdict with holding Mustafa Dossa as guilty of the charges levelled against him. The court held Dossa was the key conspirator, and had actively participated in various meetings and had played an active role in landing the arms, ammunition and explosives to carry out the blasts. The court noted Salem was the one of the main conspirators. He was very close to Anees Ibrahim Kaskar and Mustafa Dossa and he was acting in consonance with the object of the conspiracy hatched by them. His close proximity to the key conspirators ensured that he smuggled some part of the arms and ammunitions from Dighi Jetty. Court was scathing on Tahir’s role when it noted that knowingly, wilfully, consciously and deliberately organised and actively participated in several conspiracy meetings in order to exact revenge. “The prosecution has proved that Merchant’s role is communal and that he is one of the initiators of the conspiracy. Merchant, with his kind of indulgence must be held directly responsible.” The court observed that the accused had gathered to “take revenge against government of India and against members of the Hindu community” after the riots which took place in 1992. The verdict was passed taking into consideration the confessional statements of accused who were convicted in 2006, and of Karimullah, Firoz and Abu Salem. The court noted that Riyaz could not be charged with conspiracy, but convicted him after it found him guilty under various sections of TADA. Prosecution on its part had sought for capital punishment of four convicts, which included Mustafa Dossa who died of cardiac attack. While it sought life imprisonment for extradited gangster Abu Salem and Riyaz Siddique.