BOMBAY, 10 October 2006 — Mohammed Farouk Pawale, an accused in the 1993 Bombay serial blasts was convicted by the designated judge P.D. Kode of the special Terrorists and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA) here yestrerday.
The judge held Pawale guilty on the charges of conspiracy, planting a bomb in a parked car in the basement of the building housing Air-India headquarters and planting another bomb in a car outside a gasoline station near the Shiv Sena Bhavan in Dadar.
The accused was also found guilty of assisting in smuggling of arms and ammunition into the country and of plotting attacks.
Pawale sat composed and silent when the verdict was announced and according to lawyers the accused could be sentenced to death penalty. Reading out the verdict to the accused judge Kode said “ I find you guilty on all counts”. With today’s conviction, the tally of those convicted has risen to thirty two.
Meanwhile, the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATAS) of the Maharashtra police received a jolt when seven accused charged in the July serial train blasts retracted their confessional statement made to the police before the judge of a special court when they were presented today.
The seven accused Faisal Shaikh, Muzamil Shaikh, Tanvir Ahmed Ansari, Mohammed Kamal Ansari, Ethesham Siddiqui, Sohail Shaikh and Zamir Ahmed Ansari told special judge MR Bhatkar that their confessional statement were taken by the police under duress and that the police had taken their signatures on blank papers. The accused also brought to the notice of the judge that they were not produced before a Magistrate or Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) for recording their confessions as required by the law.
According to the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) it is mandatory for the police to produce the accused before a Magistrate or DCP, for recording of confession. The retraction of the confession by the accused has come a week after the Bombay police commissioner AN Roy had proudly claimed to the world media that the police had cracked the train blasts case.
The retraction of confessions by the accused produced today before the court surprised the prosecution, as usually this is done by the accused while in judicial custody while the accused were still in police custody when they retracted.
For the first time, the court, revoked the police custody of the accused and sent them to judicial custody till July 20, when they will be produced again before the court.
Reacting to the setback to the ATS, its chief , KP Raghuvanshi refusing to divulge further details only said that it was very normal for any accused to retract his confession in a very sensitive case.
With the seven prime accused being sent to judicial custody, eyebrows are being raised and questions being asked about the claims of the Bombay police of having arrested the real culprits and solving the blasts case.
In another development, Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister and home minister RR Patil revealed that the Scotland Yard police had expressed their interest and desire to visit Bombay to study method and approach of the state police in general and that of the ATS in particular. However, no date has been fixed yet of their visit, Patil said.
According to a home department source, the Scotland Yard had sent in a request to facilitate a visit of its team to understand as to how the Bombay police and the ATS has cracked the serial train blast in Bombay so swiftly. The Scotland Yard and the London police had been unable so far to crack the terror strikes in July 2005 in which terrorists targeted the London transportation system in a series of bombings.
