Mumbai: After facing a trial for more than a decade, 10 of the 13 accused in the Mumbai triple blast case were finally convicted on Tuesday. The three blasts took place at different locations in Mumbai between December 2002 and March 2003, killing around 12 people.
Special Judge PR Deshmukh, while acquitting the three accused, has posted the next hearing of the case on Wednesday to decide the quantum of the sentence to be awarded to the ten accused.
The special Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court has found the 10 accused guilty under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Railways Act, the Arms Act, the Explosive Substances Act and POTA. The court has confirmed charges like criminal conspiracy, murder, attempt to murder, causing grievous hurt and waging war against the nation. Nadeem Paloba, Harun Lohar and Adnan Mulla were the three persons acquitted by the court owing to insufficient evidence.
It was in December 2002 that the first bomb exploded in McDonald’s outlet in Mumbai Central’s main building complex, following which there was a second bomb blast in January 2003 in a busy market at Vile Parle (East). The third and the last bomb ripped through an overcrowded local train at Mulund station in March 2003. The train was heading towards Karjat from CST.
Upon investigation, the Mumbai police said the blasts were executed by the former general secretary of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India Saquib Nachan. The police had described him as the ‘mastermind’ of these blasts.
The prosecution argued that the accused wanted to avenge the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya and also the communal riots of Gujarat in 2002. The prosecution also claimed that most of the accused were members of the banned SIMI group. The police had listed around 25 names of which only 19 were arrested in 2003 while the remaining six are still at large. Since the case had been dragging on for more than a decade, nearly five of the 19 arrested accused died while one was discharged earlier by the court.
Apart from Nachan, the police had also arrested Dr Wahid Ansari, former professor of Urdu in Pune’s National Defence Academy; Muzammil Ansari, who was an engineer, was also convicted.
The main accused Nachan was accused of arranging manpower, arms and ammunition; co-accused Wahid Ansari and of the absconders were accused of manufacturing the bombs. Muzammil Ansari and another absconder planted the bombs at the target sites.
Looking partly satisfied, Nandkishore Salvi, whose brother died in one of the blasts, said, “When terrorists like Ajmal Kasab can be hanged within a few years, I do not know why these accused have not been punished.” “I think that such cases should go to fast track courts so that the victims and their families get justice in a few years and not in 10 or 12 years, as has happened now,” he added.
