MUMBAI, 16 February 2007 — Prosecutors sought the death sentence yesterday for 44 people convicted of carrying out a series of bombings in Mumbai in 1993, and life terms for another 45 for complicity.

The prosecution also asked for a maximum punishment of up to 10 years in prison for Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt for buying illegal arms from the gangsters involved in the bombings that killed 257 people.

Police said the multiple attacks on the Bombay Stock Exchange, a cinema and a crowded market were plotted by India’s most wanted man, Dawood Ibrahim, to avenge the razing of the historic Babri Mosque by Hindu fanatics in 1992.

Indian officials allege Ibrahim is hiding in Pakistan.

The court last year found 100 people, mostly Muslims, guilty in connection with the blasts but set another 23 free.

Prosecution lawyer Ujjal Nikam, wrapping up his arguments in a 13-year-old trial, said the death penalty was sought for those who had conspired in the bombings or had planted the explosives.

He said the prosecution had asked a special anti-terrorism court to award the life sentence to 45 people for aiding the attack. It left the quantum of punishment for two ailing women, also convicted of abetting the crime, to the court.

The remaining nine people, including Dutt, had been convicted for violating customs and arms acts, offenses that can result in jail terms between three and 10 years.

“For these nine people we have asked for the maximum punishment they can be given under the sections they have been charged with,” Nikam said.

Dutt, 47, known for his roles as a gangster with a heart of gold, has been convicted of illegally procuring an AK-56 rifle and a pistol from criminals connected with the 1993 blasts.

Dutt’s lawyers have said the actor, who is on bail after spending more than a year in jail during initial investigations, should be given the benefit of probation and not sent to jail as he was a first-time offender and his conduct during the 13-year trial has been good.

Nikam said the court had given the defense until Feb. 23 to argue against the sentences sought by the prosecution.

Mumbai Serial Murder Case

Meanwhile, police in Mumbai said that a 35-year-old man has confessed to seven murders believed to be linked by a signature beer can left next to the bodies.

The suspect, Ravindra Kantrole, reportedly confessed after being administered drugs in a so-called narco-analysis test in the southern city of Bangalore, said Brijesh Singh, a deputy police commissioner in Mumbai. The method, also called truth serum, is not recognized as evidence by Indian courts.

“He has confessed to multiple killings in recent months,” said Singh, who works in south Mumbai, where most of the murders occurred.

Kantrole was arrested in January and underwent the testing the same month. He was now being held in police custody in Mumbai until Feb. 20 in connection with the case, Singh said.

The police linked at least seven murder cases in Mumbai, between October 2006 and January 2007, by a beer can dropped at the scenes and formed a special investigation team to probe the deaths.

The case has been less high-profile than a gruesome discovery of at least 21 bodies found in a sewage ditch near a large house in a suburb of India’s capital in December. The victims, mainly children, are believed to have been abducted, raped and murdered.

The victims were reportedly killed over several years as police in the area ignored numerous missing person cases. On Dec. 29, police arrested Monindher Singh Pandher, the owner of the house and his domestic help, Surender Koli.

— Additional input from agencies