MUMBAI, 4 November 2006 — The special Terrorists and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA) court, delivering verdicts in the 1993 Bombay serial blasts case, yesterday, convicted Mohammed Botomiya, Asif Yusuf Shaikh and Ashraf ur-Rehman, the three associates of prime conspirators Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar and Tiger Memon, of participating in the blasts conspiracy.
The court had summoned seven accused yesterday.
The designated judge of the TADA court P.D. Kode held the three accused guilty under various sections of the Arms Act. Botamiya was pronounced guilty for possessing AK-56 rifles, 980 rounds of AK-56 rifles, and 32 empty magazines of the rifles.
Ashraf was held guilty of possessing 85 hand grenades, 350 electronic detonators and 3,270 live cartridges of AK-57 rifles. Ashraf was further held guilty of concealing the arms and RDX explosives.
The court held the third accused Asif Yusuf Shaikh guilty of possessing hand grenades which he obtained from another co-accused Nasim Barmare.
The verdict against the remaining four other accused is likely to be delivered today.
The four, Mansoor Ahmed Syed is alleged to have visited the residence of film star and co-accused Sanjay Dutt along with another accused Abu Salem to collect weapons and delivered them at the residence of another accused Zebunissa Kazi. The other accused Ahsan Qureshi is charged with possessing a revolver which he purchases from another co-accused Firoz Aman Malik. Ayub Patel is charged with possessing hand-grenades while Murad Khan is charged with traveling to Dubai for onward journey to Pakistan for arms training.
Suspected Malegaon blasts mastermind arrested:
In another development, the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATSA) of the Maharashtra police on Friday arrested Shabbir Ahmed Mushirullah Ansari alias Shabbir Batterywala, suspected to be the mastermind of Malegaon blasts. Shabbir is the second suspect to be arrested in connection with the Malegaon blasts case. Earlier, the ATS has arrested Noor-Ul_Huda, a Students Islamic Movement (SIMI) activist.
Ansari, a resident of Jafarnagar locality in Malegaon owns a battery manufacturing unit in Malegaon. According to a ATS official Ansari is already in custody of the Bombay police since August 2, when he was arrested for his complicity in Malegaon blasts, and had visited Pakistan in 2003 for obtaining training in arms and ammunition, the official said.
According to ATS officials, Ansari is the strongest common link between Aurangabad, Bombay and Malegaon, the three modules. Ansari was arrested by the Bombay crime branch under the provisions for the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for being an active SIMI member was subsequently arrested by the ATS for allegedly hatching a conspiracy to trigger blasts at Malegaon along with his employee Noor-Ul-Huda, who too was arrested for planting three bombs at Malegaon.
Two more accused retract confessional statements in Aurangabad arms haul case:
Meanwhile, the ATS suffered yet another setback when Abdul Azim Abdul Jamil Shaikh and Mohammed Muzaffar Mohamed Tanvir, the two accused in the Aurangabad arms haul case retracted their confession before the special Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime (MCOCA) court. In their application filed before the special judge of the MCOCA court, the duo said that their concessions were taken by force and alleged that the police had threatened them that they would be implicated in false cases and not be allowed to meet their families if they disowned the confessions.
