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Four persons, including the adopted sister of absconding prime accused Tiger Memon, were held guilty on Wednesday by the TADA court for their complicity in serial bomb blasts that killed 257 people in Mumbai in 1993.
The four are Ahmed Shah Mubarak Shah alias Salim Khan Durrani, Aziz Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Sheikh, Mohammed Rafiq Musa Biyariwala and Mubina Paya Bhiwandiwalla, Tiger's adopted sister.
Durrani and Sheikh were held guilty of possessing arms while Biyariwala and Mubina were convicted by Judge P D
Kode for aiding and abetting a terrorist act under the TADA Act.
Durrani, a scion of the royal family of the erstwhile princely state of Tonk in Rajasthan, was found guilty of possessing a AK-56 rifle and two empty magazines that were found in the premises of his factory in suburban Andheri.
Kode observed that evidence of the recovery of the arms from Durrani has been accepted though it was not established
from where he had procured the weapons.
Durrani was, however, acquitted of charges of attending a conspiracy meeting in Dubai and harbouring other accused on the instructions of Tiger Memon.
The court observed that evidence against Durrani fell short of holding him guilty for harbouring other accused.
He was also absolved of charges of aiding and abetting terrorist acts and of charges under section 6 of TADA (for
violating provisions of the Arms Act).
With these four convictions, the total number of people found guilty in the case has risen to 75.
Sheikh was held guilty of possessing a US-made carbine, three magazines and 28 bullets under Section 5 of TADA.
The court did not accept his confession as well as those of two other co-accused who had implicated Sheikh. The judge
held that the confessions were not properly recorded as required under Section 15 of TADA.
The court, however, acquitted Sheikh of charges of conspiracy and under Section 6 of TADA, saying there was no
evidence against him on these counts.
Biyariwala was held guilty of aiding and abetting terrorist acts under Sections 3(3) of TADA and Section 6 of
the same law for participating in operations to land arms at Shekhadi coast in Raigad district and to transport weapons
from there to Mumbai.
Biyariwala, the driver of Tiger Memon, was also found guilty of aiding and abetting terrorist acts by going to Sahar
airport with co-accused Asgar Mukadam to see off some accused who went to Pakistan via Dubai for arms training.
Mubina was held guilty of aiding and abetting terrorist acts under Section 3(3) of the TADA Act for organising a
conspiracy meeting at her house in suburban Bandra.
It was at this meeting that Tiger and other accused chalked out the conspiracy to trigger a series of bomb blasts
in Mumbai on March 12, 1993.
Twenty-one of the accused have been acquitted or given benefit of doubt while the court is yet to pronounce its
verdict on 27 accused, including filmstar Sanjay Dutt.