The 1993 serial bomb blasts case has finally come a crucial point with a TADA court all set to start dictation of its verdict from today in the presence of all the 123 accused, including actor Sanjay Dutt.
Ninety-four accused on bail and 29 in custody have been summoned to the court by designated Judge P D Kode who would start dictating the verdict 13 years after the blasts rocked the city killing 257 persons and injuring 713.
The court may take more than a fortnight to deliver the entire verdict considering the testimony of 686 witnesses in over 13,000 pages of evidence tendered by them -- a record of sorts in Indian legal history.
The security in and around the court has been tightened since yesterday and police has imposed section 144 CrPC in and around the court premises banning the assembly of five or more persons.
Altogether 198 accused were roped in the case by CBI in 1993 soon after the blasts. Of these, 29 were discharged due to lack of evidence and 29 others, including prime accused Dawood Ibrahim, Tiger Memon and Mohammed Dossa, were shown as absconding.
Of the remaining 140 accused, 11 died during the trial while two others, Abu Asim Azmi and Amjad Mehr Baksh were discharged by Supreme Court. Another accused, Riaz Khatri jumped bail on September 23, 1996 and is absconding.
The trial of three more accused, Abu Salem, Riaz Siddiqui and Mustaffa Dossa has been separated leaving 123 accused to face the trial in the main case, according to special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.
A series of explosions rocked 13 places in the city on March 12, 1993 and property worth Rs 27 crores was destroyed in the blasts.
The blasts were masterminded by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim with the help of his lieutenants Tiger Memon and Mohammed Dossa, allegedly at the instance of Pakistan's intelligence agency, ISI, to avenge demolition of disputed Babri Masjid, the CBI has said in the chargesheet.
According to CBI, the perpetrators of the serial blasts intended to shatter country's economy, as was indicative from the selection of blasts sites namely Bombay Stock Exchange, Air-India building, hotel Sea Rock, hotel Centaur Juhu, hotel Centaur Airport, and in busy areas of Zaveri Bazaar, Katha Bazaar and Century Bazaar.
A petrol pump near the Shiv Sena bhavan and Plaza theatre were also targeted as blasts killed many people.
As part of the conspiracy, hand grenades were hurled at a Hindu colony in Mahim, triggering riots in the city in which several motor vehicles, shops and houses were damaged.
Hand grenades were also hurled at the airport but no damage was caused, while RDX-stuffed scooters that had failed to explode were seized from Naigaon and Dhanji Street.
The explosions occurred between 1:30 pm to 3:40 pm on a Friday sending shockwaves among the people across the country.
The arms and ammunition used in the blasts arrived by a ship from Pakistan at Shekadi and Dighi coasts in Raigad district during January-February 1993. Dawood, Memon and Dossa are absconding accused in the list of 29.
While Dawood was already abroad when the blasts occurred, Memon and Dosa fled a day before. The conspiracy meetings were held in Mumbai, Dubai and Panvel in Raigad district. 25 accused were sent to Pakistan via Dubai for arms training and learning skills to make bombs, CBI has said.
Some accused were asked to arrange landing of arms and ammunition at Raigad coast while others were given the job of distributing the weapons and explosives to co-accused, CBI said.
The first witness to step into the box was accused-turned approver Mohammed Khatlab who disclosed the conspiracy saying he was lured by accused Farooq Motorwala to attend a meeting in Dubai called by Tiger Memon. He visited Dubai and also went to Pakistan but returned without taking arms training on the pretext of ill-health.
The second witness was also an approver, Mohammed Usman Jan Khan and he had said he was involved in every stage of the conspiracy -- attending meetings, participating in arms training and bomb making in Pakistan, stuffing RDX in cars and scooters and parking the vehicles in targeted places.
Khan identified 33 accused in the court as the members of Tiger Memon team who had helped in executing the blasts.
A day before the blasts RDX was stuffed in boots of cars and scooters in the garrages of Al-Husseini building where Tiger Memon and his family own four flats.
Among the accused were customs officers including S N Thapa who were arrested and dismissed from service on the charge of helping Tiger Memon in getting away with explosives despite an intelligence alert in this regard. Others were police officers who had allowed the consignment to pass in vehicles although they took the defence that they contained silver bricks and not RDX.
Actor Sanjay Dutt also found himself in the dock with the allegation that he had accepted AK-56 rifle from Abu Salem, Baba Musa Chavan, Samir Hingora and Hanif Kadawala.
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