BOMBAY, 18 October 2006 — Designated Judge P.D. Kode of the special Terrorists and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA) court yesterday held three accomplices of prime accused Tiger Memon guilty, while he acquitted two others for lack of evidence in the 1993 serial bomb blasts case in Bombay.
With yesterday’s convictions the tally of those found guilty has risen to 50, while that of acquitted to 19.
The three accused Sayed Abdul Rehman Shaikh, Manoj Bhanawarilal Gupta and Mohammed Lajpuria, were held guilty of several offenses including assisting the prime conspirators Tiger Memon, Mohammed Dossa and Ejaz Pathan in criminal acts.
The TADA court judge however acquitted Shakil Shahabuddin Shaikh and Devdas Keshav Ghule, as the prosecution failed to prove their involvement in the crime.
Delivering the verdict the judge said that he was convinced that accused Sayed Abdul Shaikh was guilty of participating in conspiracy, landing and transportation of RDX explosives at the Shekhadi coast in Raigad district and that the confessional statement given by the accused was accepted by the court.
The other accused Manoj Gupta was held guilty of participating in landing operations of arms, ammunitions and RDX explosives at Shekhadi, for possessing weapons and taking part in the disposal of 59 bags of RDX explosives at Nagla Bunder creek. However, the court acquitted Gupta of charges of causing disappearance of evidence, as it could not be proved that the accused disposed of the RDX explosives and also from the charges of taking part in the conspiracy, obtaining arms training in Raigad. The court also accepted the confessional statement of Gupta and of other accused implicating him in the case.
The third accused Mohammed Kasam Lajpuria was held guilty by judge Kode of participating in the landing operations of arms and explosives in Dighi coast, holding meetings with customs officials at Persian Durbar hotel in Panvel, in New Bombay to bribe them, and of negotiating with the police officials for the smooth passage of the arms consignment to various places in Bombay. Lapuria was also held guilty under the arms act and his confessional statement accepted by the court.
Meanwhile in another development, the Additional District Session judge in Malegaon yesterday granted permission to the police for the narco-analysis and brain mapping test of arrested Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) activists Noorul Huda, while rejecting the request of his lawyers to stay the tests on the accused.
The police last month had raided the residence of Noorul Huda after the Malegaon bomb blasts and seized propaganda literature and pamphlets relating to SIMI. The accused, whose police custody expired yesterday, was further extended to October 22. The police will take Noorul Huda to Bangalore for the narco-analysis and brain mapping test.
