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Four of Memon family found guilty

Staff Reporter

They are among the 123 accused in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case; verdict on others in batches

— PTI

JUDGMENT AWAITED: Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, one of the accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, is escorted out of the TADA court in Mumbai on Tuesday. The court pronounced its first judgment in the case. The verdict on Mr. Dutt, who is accused no. 117, is expected to take time.

MUMBAI: A special court here on Tuesday held four of the eight members of the Memon family guilty in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case. They are among the 123 accused.

Justice P.D. Kode delivered the long-awaited judgment in the packed designated Terrorists and Disruptive Activities (TADA) Act court. The verdict on the other accused, including Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, will be pronounced in batches.

257 people killed in blasts

The serial blasts that rocked Mumbai on March 12, 1993, killed 257 people and injured over 700. The prime accused, Dawood Ibrahim, Anees Ibrahim, Tiger Memon and his wife and Ayub Memon and his wife are absconding.

After preliminary arguments about how the delivery of the judgment would proceed, Mr. Justice Kode said he would deal with the accused in batches. He began with the eight members of the Memon family, who are among the accused, and pronounced Yakub Memon, Yusuf Memon and Essa Memon, the brothers of Tiger Memon, guilty. Rubeena Memon, wife of another brother Suleiman Memon, was also found guilty.

The judge held the mother of the Memon brothers, Hanifa, and Raheen, Yakub Memon's wife, not guilty. He also found one of the brothers, Suleiman Memon, not guilty. Their father, Abdul Razak Memon, also an accused, died during the course of the trial.

All the four found guilty are facing charges under TADA and various Sections of the Indian Penal Code. They will be sentenced subsequently and could get jail terms from five years to life imprisonment.

Yakub's plea

After Mr. Justice Kode gave his ruling, Yakub Memon pleaded that his sister-in-law Rubeena be given time before she surrendered, since there was no one to look after her children and ailing mother-in-law.

He said: "Innocent people have been found guilty. My mother is ill at home. The house is in a mess. There is no one to look after the children."

Even after taking this request on record, Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam opposed the plea, saying there was no legal provision for allowing bail to a convicted person. Mr. Justice Kode then noted that the request could not be allowed.

At this point, Yakub lost his temper and shouted that they did not need any lawyer. He said: "We do not want to be terrorists. We will die like this only. People who make these blasts happen want us to become terrorists and you are getting fooled by them. I was told 13 years ago that nothing would come out of this. But I have taken 13 years to realise this is all drama."

There was hushed silence in the courtroom as he left. His wife, Raheen, started sobbing, and was consoled by the other accused.

Later in the day, Rubeena was given bail on compassionate grounds until further orders, confirmed lawyer Subhash Kanse. He said this was done under provisions in Section 437 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

On Wednesday, the court will hear arguments on the sentencing of the four Memons. Mr. Justice Kode clarified that he would pronounce the sentences only after he gave the judgment on all the 123 accused. The process is expected to continue for several weeks.

"Tiger was right"

PTI reports:

During his outburst in the court, Yakub Memon referred more than once to his absconding brother, Tiger Memon. ``He was right. He kept telling us not to surrender at that time, but we didn't listen, and now we have to see this day,'' he shouted.

An enraged Yakub, a chartered accountant, said: ``You have labelled all of us innocent people as terrorists. We came here thinking this was the land of Gandhi and we would get justice, but we were wrong ... We have had to face hardships ever since then, and now we realise that he [Tiger] was right.''

It was revenge: CBI

The CBI submitted in the charge sheet that the blasts were masterminded by Dawood Ibrahim with the help of his lieutenants Tiger Memon and Mohammed Dossa, allegedly at the instance of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence to avenge the demolition of the Babri Masjid.

Dawood, Memon and Dossa are the absconding accused in the list of 29. While Dawood was already abroad when the blasts occurred, Memon and Dossa fled a day earlier.

The Memons had allowed the use of their garages to load RDX into vehicles used for bombing 13 crucial points in Mumbai.

Escape to Dubai

A day before the blasts, Tiger's family, including Yakub, escaped to Dubai and from there to Pakistan, which indicated that they had previous knowledge of the conspiracy. The family, except Tiger and Ayub, returned to Mumbai in 1994 and was arrested by the CBI.

The judge found Yakub guilty of conspiracy and financing the serial blasts. He was also convicted for providing tickets to the co-accused to travel to Pakistan for training in arms and ammunition.

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