The Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act court hearing the 1993 serial blasts case on Wednesday directed all 100 convicts to appear before it on April 19, indicating that it will start pronouncing their sentence from that date.
Judge P D Kode also heard the last of the applications filed by the convicts seeking review of their conviction order, and Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam's reply. The court will decide on these applications -- chief among them one filed by 69 convicts who asked that the stringent TADA charges against them should be dropped and they should be tried under the Arms Act -- on April 16.
The CBI, the prosecuting agency, has sought the death sentence for 44 persons who were held guilty for being party to the conspiracy to carry out the blasts of March 12, 1993 that killed 257 people.
The court will also decide the fate of actor Sanjay Dutt -- convicted under the Arms Act and seeking release under the Probation of Offenders Act -- in the course of pronouncing the sentences.
Coverage: Mumbai Blasts Verdict