Accused to court: Wasn’t involved in 1993 blasts

Mumbai: Ahmed Lambu alias Khalid Kamal Shaikh, who was recently arrested in connection with the 1993 Mumbai bombings, on Monday told the special TADA court that he had given a confession, but he was not involved in the bomb blasts.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday produced Lambu before special judge S.M. Bhosale and sought his custody for 14 days.

CBI counsel Deepak Salvi informed the court that the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad’s (ATS) Ahmedabad unit had told the CBI on June 1 that they had arrested an accused who was wanted in the 1993 blasts case.

Following this, the investigating team brought Lambu to Mumbai on Saturday on transit remand that was to end on Monday at 5 pm and hence, he was produced before the court for remand.

Mr Salvi also told the court that Lambu expressed his desire to confess on Sunday following which he was given 24 hours to rethink on his decision, and on Monday morning he confessed before a magistrate.

When judge Bhosale asked Lambu about the confession he made, he replied, “The statement was read over to me and I said (to them) that I did not play any role in the blast, so remove that part. Rest is ok.”

Meanwhile, advocate Farhana Shah opposed remanding Lambu in CBI custody, saying the TADA court had passed judgment in this case twice and everything related to this case was on record so there was not need to keep the accused in custody for further investigation.

Mr Salvi contended that Lambu had confessed and the agency wanted to ascertain its correctness and also needed to look into the persons whose names he had mentioned in his statement.

After hearing the arguments, judge Bhosale remanded Lambu in CBI custody till June 14.

On March 12, 1993 a series of 12 bomb explosions took place in Mumbai. The attack said to be carried out in revenge for earlier riots. The attacks were coordinated by Dawood Ibrahim through his accomplices Tiger Memon and Yakub Memon.