A Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court on Wednesday awarded life imprisonment to three of the ten convicts, including main accused Muzammil Ansari in the 2002-2003 Mumbai blasts case, while it sentenced four others, including former general secretary of the outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) Saquib Nachan, to ten years’ imprisonment. Additional Sessions Judge PR Deshmukh sentenced two-year jail terms to three others — Noor Malik, Anwar Ali and Muhammed Kamil.
Blasts took place in the metropolis between December 6, 2002 and March 13, 2003. Wahid Ansari and Farhaan Khot are two others who got life sentence.
The prosecution’s case was that Muzammil and Taher, alias Nisar Ahmed Ansari, alias Janab Yousuf Shaikh, (who is still absconding) had planted explosives at all the three places.
The four who got ten years’ imprisonment are Saquib Nachan, Ateef Mulla, Hasib Zubeir Mulla and Ghulam Khotal. The prosecution had claimed that Nachan was the key accused in the triple blasts case. It had also described Nachan as the link between SIMI and lashkar-e-Tayyeba.
The three blasts, which took place in the metropolis between December 6, 2002 and March 13, 2003, had claimed 12 lives and left 132 people injured.
In the first blast that took place near McDonald’s eatery in Mumbai Central Railway Terminus on December 6, 2002, 22 people were injured, while 30 people were injured in an explosion that rocked a crowded place near Vile Parle Railway Station in north-west Mumbai. In the third blast that took place on board a first class ladies’ compartment of a suburban train at Mulund in north-east Mumbai, 12 people were killed and 80 were injured.
On March 29, the POTA court had convicted ten out of 13 accused for their involvement in the three blasts.
Additional Sessions Judge Deshmukh, who presides over a special court set up under now repealed POTA, acquitted three of the accused, Nadeem Paloba, Harun lohar and Adnan, for lack of sufficient evidence.
The court ordered that 75 per cent of the Rs 9 lakh fine recovered from the convicts be given to District legal Services Authority (DlSA), while the rest would go to the Indian Railways.
The court also directed DlSA, Mumbai, to decide on the quantum of compensation to be awarded to the victims and their families and pay it.
Meanwhile, the Jamiat Ulama-e-Maharashtra (JUeM), which had provided legal aid to the accused in the case, on Wednesday expressed satisfaction that Ansari had been spared capital punishment.
The JUeM, however, said it would challenge the conviction of all ten accused in the Bombay High Court.