1993 blast convicts moved to jails across state

Mumbai: Almost a month after the special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) court delivered its judgment in the 1993 serial blast case, the jail authorities moved the convicts from the prisons in the city and have now lodged them in different prisons in the state.

The intimation of moving the convicts to different prisons has been given to the special TADA court. According to the intimation, two convicts given death by the court - Feroz Abdul Rashid Khan and Tahir Merchant were moved to Nagpur and Pune respectively.

While Karimullah Khan who was given life imprisonment was taken to Nasik prison and another convict Riyaz Siddiqui  given 10 years imprisonment is also taken to Pune jail.

However, extradited gangster Abu Salem is still lodged in Taloja prison near the city. “This could be because there are many other trials going on against him in different states and it would be easy to take him from Taloja”, an official said.

On September 7, Special TADA judge G.A. Sanap had pronounced the sentence against six convicted persons, including mastermind Mustafa Dossa and Salem, in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, 24 years after the attacks.

It, however, let off accused Abdul Quayyum, for want of evidence against him. This was the second leg of the trial. All the seven accused were facing multiple charges which included criminal conspiracy, waging war against the Government of India and murder. The court, in June 16 gave its ruling, convicting six accused.