BOMBAY, 3 November 2006 — Resuming after a long holiday break, the designated judge of the special TADA court yesterday continued delivering verdicts in the 1993 Bombay serial blasts case by convicting two customs officers and one close associate of prime accused Tiger Memon.
Judge P.D. Kode found Customs Superintendent Sadashiv Talawadekar and Customs Inspector Jayant Gurav guilty under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) for abetting and aiding the prime conspirators of the blasts and helping them in the landing and transportation of RDX explosives, arms and ammunition off Dighi coast in Maharashtra’s Raigad district.
Both the accused were also found guilty of taking bribes from the prime conspirators of the blast to let the arms consignment pass through safely.
The judge ruled that there was enough evidence against Talawadekar to suggest that he was present when the consignment of smuggled RDX explosives, arms and ammunition were being offloaded at the coast.
As for Gurav, the judge found him guilty of piloting a customs jeep together with a van filled with RDX explosives and arms from Raigad to Bombay.
The judge, however, absolved both the accused from the charge of being part of the conspiracy.
Ordering the cancellation of the bail bond of Talawadekar and Gurav, the judge asked the police to take them into custody.
The third accused to be convicted was Ayub Ibrahim Qureshi, an associate of Memon. He was found guilty of possessing a revolver in a prohibited area and was convicted under both TADA and Arms Act. The bail bond of Qureshi was canceled and he was taken into custody immediately after the verdict was announced.
