BOMBAY, 11 October 2006 — The designated Terrorists and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA) court yesterday found three men guilty of smuggling arms and ammunition used in the string of blasts that tore through Bombay in a single day in 1993 and killed 257 people. Two others were acquitted due to lack of evidence against them.
Yashwant Bhoinkar, Abbas Dawood Shaikh Dare and Shehajahan Ibrahim Shaikh Dare were convicted of “abetting” the attack by transporting containers on their fishing vessels from the seas to the Indian coast, said Judge Pramod Kode. They face up to seven years in jail.
Kode said the men were not convicted on more serious terror charges because they were unaware of the contents of the containers they were smuggling.
The court acquitted two other men because there was insufficient evidence, Kode said.
A total of 12 bombs went off over a two-hour period in India’s commercial and entertainment capital on March 12, 1993. Yesterday’s conviction takes the number of people found guilty in the case to 35.
Bombers parked scooters, cars and jeeps packed with explosives at the Bombay Stock Exchange, cinema halls, an Air-India office, petrol pumps, the passport office, crowded jewelry and cloth markets and two hotels.
The Central Bureau of Investigation, lead investigators in the case, say the bombers were trained in Pakistan and the attacks were plotted by two of India’s most wanted men, Tiger Memon and Dawood Ibrahim, who are both on the run. Pakistan has denied any involvement.
