1993 blasts case: 3 more convicts get noose

Three men who planted bombs during the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts were on Thursday sentenced to death by the special TADA court, taking the number of persons awarded capital punishment to six.

Judge P D Kode sentenced Asghar Mukadam, a former employee of prime absconding accused Tiger Memon, and Shahnawaz Qureshi to death for parking a van filled with RDX at Plaza Cinema in central Mumbai.

The explosion killed 10 people, injured 36 and damaged property worth Rs 87 lakh.

Mukadam's cousin Shoaib Ghansar, who parked a RDX-filled scooter at busy Zaveri Bazaar that killed 17 people and injured 57, too was sentenced to death by the court on the counts of murder and participating in a terrorist act.

Ghansar, however, was given life imprisonment on the charge of conspiracy for 'not being a member of the conspiracy.'

Judge Kode observed that Mukadam had dragged Ghansar into the conspiracy a day before the blasts, but said no leniency could be shown on the charges of causing death and committing a terrorist act.

Both Qureshi and Mukadam were sentenced to death on three counts each.

Mukadam was also convicted for ferrying three other accused carrying suitcase bombs to five star hotels in the city.

Qureshi had also been convicted by the court for illegally travelling to Pakistan, where he received training in handling arms and explosives.

The court has so far sentenced 84 of the 100 people convicted for the serial blasts in the financial capital.

The first three death sentences, including that of Abdul Gani Turk who planted a bomb in Worli that killed 113 people, were handed down by the special court on Wednesday.

Fourteen people have been given life imprisonment and 16 convicts, including actor Sanjay Dutt, found guilty of illegally possessing arms, are yet to be sentenced.      

Twelve blasts on March 12, 1993 killed 257 people and injured over 700.