Abu Salem, Dossa convicted in ’93 Mumbai serial blasts case

Mumbai, June 16 : Key mastermind of the 1993 Mumbai blasts case Mustafa Dossa and extradited gangster Abu Salem were on Friday convicted by a special TADA court here. While Dossa was convicted on charges of conspiracy and murder under various Sections of the IPC besides offences under the TADA Act, the Arms Act and the Explosives Act, Salem was found guilty of transporting weapons from Gujarat to Mumbai ahead of the blasts. He had also handed over to actor Sanjay Dutt—who was an accused in the case for illegally possessing weapons—AK 56 rifles, 250 rounds and some hand grenades at his residence on January 16, 1993.
Two days later on January 18, 1993, Salem and two others went to Dutt’s house and got back two rifles and some rounds.
Earlier, the court had dropped certain charges against Salem in 2013 after the investigating agency—CBI—moved a plea, saying those charges were against the extradition treaty between India and Portugal.
Dossa allegedly masterminded the landing of explosives, including RDX, in India and sent some youth to Pakistan to acquire arms training to execute the blasts.
The dastardly attacks had left 257 dead, 713 persons seriously injured and destroyed properties worth Rs 27 crore.
In the first leg of the trial that concluded in 2007, the TADA court had convicted 100 accused in the case, while 23 persons were acquitted.
The trial of the seven accused—Abu Salem, Mustafa Dossa, Karimullah Khan, Firoz Abdul Rashid Khan, Riyaz Siddiqui, Tahir Merchant and Abdul Quayyum—were separated from the main case as they were arrested at the time of conclusion of the main trial. On March 12, 1993, the country’s commercial capital witnessed an unprecedented terrorist attack when a series 12 bomb explosions took place one after another in about a span of two hours.