The special TADA court on Thursday sentenced six persons, including two associates of prime accused Tiger Memon, to prison terms ranging from five to fourteen years for their role in landing arms, ammunition and explosives prior to 1993 serial blasts.
Sharif Parkar, who was convicted on charges of having participated in the landing of arms, ammunitions and explosives at Shekhadi in Raigad district on February 3 and 9, 1993, was sentenced to 14 years' rigorous imprisonment and ordered to pay a fine of Rs 3 lakh, failing which he would have to undergo an additional three years jail term.
While sentencing Parkar, who was an associate of Tiger Memon, the court observed that "he was not the main man" but despite knowing that the contraband landed was arms and ammunition and not silver, he decided to continue, which therefore warranted a harsher punishment for him.
"His age has been taken into consideration, that is why he has been given fourteen years. Else, he might have been given life," Special Judge P D Kode said while sentencing Parkar, a senior citizen.
Another associate of Memon, Raju Jain, who had provided jeeps to transport contraband after the landing was sentenced to seven years' rigorous imprisonment and ordered to pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh, failing which he would have to undergo a jail term of three years.
Jain was also found guilty of having provided a scooter to Tiger, which was later used in the Katha Bazaar blast.
Jain had provided three jeeps, which were specially equipped to conceal the contraband being transported.
Sharif Parkar's son, Mujeeb, was sentenced to five years rigorous imprisonment and ordered to pay a fine of Rs 25,000.
"You may have lied to me, but you certainly face the consequences on the day of ultimate judgement," Kode told Mujeeb who was convicted of having played a supervisory role during the smuggling of arms.
Son of one of the main landing agents, Dawood Phanse, Sarfaraz was sentenced to nine years' rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 25,000.
Sarfaraz was also convicted of having played a supervisory role during the landing of the explosives, arms and ammunition at Shekhadi.
Two drivers, Suleman Ghavte and Sayed Abdul Rehman Shaikh were sentenced to seven years' rigorous imprisonment and ordered to pay Rs 25,000 each.
The court, while sentencing them, observed, "They were apparently small fishes," and had only transported the contraband in trucks from Raigad without knowing what were the contents.
The court also observed that one of them had disassociated from his employers after learning that the consignment contained arms and ammunitions.
"However, if they had informed the police about this then none of the activities would have taken place," the court said.
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