A special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act court in Mumbai conducting the trial of the 1993 serial blasts on Monday sentenced two convicts to life imprisonment and awarded three others sentences of rigorous imprisonment ranging from five to 14 years.
The court awarded Parvez Qureshi life imprisonment and ordered him to pay a fine of Rs 50,000 on two counts of conspiracy and aiding and abetting a terrorist act for which he was convicted.
Special Judge P D Kode held that Qureshi was part of the conspiracy behind the blasts uptil the morning of March 12, 1993, and was to throw hand grenades at the Fishermen's Colony in Mahim but backed out at the last moment.
Another convict, Salim Mirza Shaikh, was sentenced to life imprisonment and ordered to deposit a fine of Rs 2 lakh for being present at a meeting between absconding accused Mohammed Dossa and customs officials at the Persian Durbar Restaurant prior to the landing of arms at the Dighi coast.
Shaikh was also convicted for having negotiated with policemen to allow the safe passage of the contraband.
Manoj Gupta, the former bodyguard of prime accused Tiger Memon, was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 14 years and directed to pay a fine of Rs 2.75 lakh for illegal possession of arms, participating in the landing of arms at Shekhadi along with his employer and disposing of RDX in the Nagla creek after the blasts.
Gupta, who has been in custody for 14 years, pleaded for the fine to be decreased, saying he could not afford it. He got into an altercation with policemen present in the court when they attempted to restrain him and escort him out of the witness box.
The court sentenced Noor Mohammed Khan to rigorous imprisonment for five years and directed him to pay a fine of Rs 1.5 lakh for storing RDX at his godown in suburban Kashimira.
Travel agent Altaf Ali Sayyed was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 10 years and told to pay a fine of Rs 2.5 lakh for illegal possession of two suitcases containing 85 to 100 hand grenades and some detonators which Yakub Memon was supposed to take from him.
With the sentencing of the five persons on Tuesday, 68 of the 100 people convicted for the 1993 blasts have been awarded sentences by the TADA court so far.
Thirty-two other convicts, including actor Sanjay Dutt and those who planted the bombs that claimed 257 lives, are yet to be sentenced.
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