1993 Mumbai blasts verdict: Abu Salem was convicted by a special court. (File photo)
Highlights
- The 1993 Mumbai blasts left 257 dead and over 700 injured
- The Court said Abu Salem, Mustafa Dossa were key conspirators
- The Court will announce sentences in the case on Monday
As a Mumbai court announced
the verdict today in the 1993 serial blasts case, that had left 257 dead and over 700 injured, key accused Abu Salem did not display any emotion. He left the courtroom with the same stoic expression that he came in with after the court found him and five others guilty of charges including terrorist activities, murder and conspiracy. One of the accused was acquitted. The rest, including Salem, will be sentenced on Monday.
Besides Salem, found guilty of transporting weapons from Gujarat to Mumbai ahead of the blasts, the court also convicted key mastermind of the strike Mustafa Dossa. An aide of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, Dossa was convicted on charges of conspiracy and murder.
"The first conspiratorial meeting that took place in Dubai in the case was held in the house of Mohammad Dossa, Mustafa Dossa's brother. Mustafa Dossa was himself was present. They conspired to send in arms, explosives and spark riots against Hindus and the government. The conspiracy was hatched as a revenge of the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition," Deepak Salve, the lawyer for the Central Bureau of Investigation, said.
1993 Mumbai blasts verdict: Mustafa Dossa, an aide of Dawood Ibrahim, was convicted.
, the court maintained that Abu Salem and Mustafa Dossa were key conspirators and also instrumental in executing the serial blasts
Earlier, the court had
dropped certain charges against Salem in 2013 after the CBI moved a plea, saying those charges were against the extradition treaty between India and Portugal.
Apart from Salem, who was extradited from Portugal in 2005, and Dossa, who was extradited from the UAE, the court also convicted Mohammed Tahir Merchant alias Tahir Takla, Karimullah Khan, Riyaz Siddiqui and Feroze Abdul Rashid Khan. Abdul Qayyum has been acquitted in the case. A number of other accused in the case, including India's most wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, remain on the run.
A series of 13 blasts in quick succession ripped through various locations of India's financial capital on March 12, 1993.