Mumbai: A special anti-terrorism court on Friday convicted notorious criminal Abu Salem and dreaded smuggler Mustafa Dossa in connection with the 12 March 1993 serial blasts case.
The process of delivery of verdict is currently underway at a special court set up under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act.
The quantum of sentence would be decided after arguments between prosecution and defence. A total of seven accused are facing trial, that is, part II of the Bombay Bomb Blasts Case.
On 12 March 1993, a dozen bombs went off at several locations in the city, killing 257 people, and injuring 713, while destroying property worth Rs. 27 crores.
Salem was one of the key persons of Dawood, however, fell out with him and Chhota Shakeel, after the murder of Gulshan Kumar. This is one of the reasons why Salem and Dossa had several fights inside the jail.
As far as the role of Dossa is concerned, he had attended the conspiracy meetings, help some of the accused go to Pakistan for training and arrange for the landing of RDX and AK-47 rifles along the Raigad coast. Salem too was part of the core team of Dawood and it was he who had supplied the Kalashnikov rifle to Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt. He was part of the group that visited Dutt’s Bandra bungalow and delivered the weapons.
Salem was arrested in Portugal in 2002 and was extradited to India 11 November 2005 along with his companion and actress Monica Bedi. He is standing trial in a total of nine cases in India. In 2015, he was sentenced to life imprisonment by a TADA court for the murder of builder Pradeep Jain. Dossa was deported from the United Arab Emirates and face the grave charge of the landing of arms and ammunition.
(Agencies)
