3 more convicts handed out death sentences

3 more convicts handed out death sentences
http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=89728
Mumbai, July 19: Three men who planted bombs during the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai 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.

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.

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.

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Court awards death sentence to three

Court awards death sentence to three
http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=89683

 Mumbai, July 18: The special TADA court in Mumbai on Wednesday awarded the death sentence for the first time to three men convicted in the 1993 serial blasts case for planting explosives, saying their act caused the death of innocent citizens and brought "disgrace to Muslims". Abdul Ghani Ismail Turk, Mohammad Mushtaq Musa Tarani and Pervez Ahmed Nasir Shaikh are the first among the 100 people convicted in the case to get capital punishment.

While announcing their sentences, Judge P D Kode said none of them were directly affected by the demolition of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya and subsequent riots in Mumbai -- which was cited by the defence as the conspirators' justification for the blasts.

"Persons who committed such heinous crimes, trying to take advantage of events which have happened earlier and which haven't affected them, had unnecessarily brought disgrace to the Muslim community, which among other communities has been a pioneer in nation-building," Kode said. The three men displayed no emotion as they heard the sentences.

Turk (51) parked an RDX-loaded jeep in Century Bazar, near the passport office at Worli in central Mumbai, that killed 88 people (though the chargesheet puts the number at 113). Another 159 people were injured and property worth Rs 2.41 crore was destroyed in the explosion that occurred at 2:45 pm on March 12, 1993.

This blast caused the maximum casualties among the series of 12 explosions that killed a total of 257 people on that day.

Turk was also directed by the court to pay a total fine of Rs 2.75

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