CBI seeks death penalty for Karimullah, Tahir

Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) counsel Deepak Salvi on Friday sought the death penalty for Karimullah Shaikh and Tahir Merchant, convicts in the 1993 Mumbai serial blast case. Earlier, Mr Salvi had sought capital punishment for Firoz Khan and Mustafa Dossa.

After the death of Mustafa Dossa on Wednesday, the arguments for the quantum of punishment for the 1993 blasts convicts began on Friday. CBI Counsel Salvi reminded the TADA court the gravity of the crime committed by the two convicts. Mr Salvi argued that Tahir Merchant alias Tahir Taklya had a good rapport with the Pakistani spy agency ISI and Pakistani Army personnel. The CBI counsel also informed the court that Tahir had good ties with Pakistani airport authority.

After the 1993 riots in Mumbai and Surat, Tahir had hatched conspiracy along with the Tiger Memon and Ayub Memon. He also arranged the visas, tickets and finance for other accused to go to Pakistan for the training. He also played a prominent role in hatching the conspiracy.

Mr Salvi also informed the court that “there was a case of counterfeit currency registered against Tahir in the Kochi. This shows that he had good relations with the enemy country.”  “He wanted to take revenge against Hindus and the government,” claimed Mr Salvi.

The CBI counsel said, “Karimullah Shaikh was a key member of Ejaj Pathan gang and was the second in command. He had good relations with Anees Ibrahim and Tiger Memon.”  

Shaikh had attended conspiracy meeting in Dubai with Tiger Memon and other gangsters. Tiger Memon had given the responsibility of landing arms and ammunition at Shekhadi port to Shaikh. He had also helped Shahabuddin Shaikh, one of the accused in the blasts, to go to Pakistan for training. He had collected the passport on Shahabuddin’s behalf and had played a key role in landing and distributing arms and ammunitions, said Mr Salvi.