BOMBAY, 17 October 2006 — The Special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA) court yesterday held four accused guilty and acquitted one on the charges of aiding prime accused Tiger Memon in the 1993 Bombay serial blasts case.
Delivering the verdict in a packed courtroom, designated judge P.D. Kode convicted Muzamil Umar Kadri, Khalil Ahmed Sayed Nazir and Ghulam Hafiz Shaikh on the charges of smuggling, landing and transporting arms and RDX explosives at Shekhadi coastal belt and also for possessing arms.
The fourth accused Tulsiram Dhondu Surve, a security guard at the high security Wangani microwave tower in Raigad district was held guilty on the charges of granting access to Tiger Memon to use government property for assembling arms, loading and transporting them in vehicles. The court also found Surve guilty of concealing 59 RDX explosives bags and for his failure of not informing the police of the smuggling of arms.
The judge acquitted Anant Bhoir who the police charged of transporting the RDX explosives bag in his dumper and landing it at the Nagla Bunder creek. Kode said that he was acquitting Bhoir due to lack of evidence and that he did not accept the confession of Bhoir as also of another co-accused implicating him. “The confession of Bhoir, appears to have been taken under duress and therefore cannot be believed” the judge said in his verdict.
In another order, the judge Kode ordered renowned film star Sanjay Dutt and 23 other accused in the blasts case to appear in person on Wednesday and give attendance. The TADA court had exempted Dutt from personal exemption on the condition that he would appear as and when ordered by the TADA court.
In another development, confusion prevailed in the state government and Maharashtra police over the claims made by state Director General of Police two days ago that the Malegaon bombers have been identified. The Nashik police officials said that they had no clues to the information given by their police chief, while the Anti Terrorist Squad officials were taken by surprise.
However, Pasricha stood firm to his claims that the perpetrators of the Malegaon blasts have been identified, and said that he had nothing further to add to what he had spoken in this regard. The Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) chief KP Raghuvanshi said that he was not aware of the claims made by his chief while Subodh Jaiswal, the Deputy Inspector General of ATS refused to comment stating that the information could best be availed from the Pasricha himself.
