1993 blasts: Four found guilty

A TADA court in Mumbai on Wednesday held four people guilty of various charges in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.

Suleiman Mohammad Kasam Ghawte, prime accused Tiger Memon's aide, was found guilty under the TADA Act for participating in the conspiracy as well as landing and transporting arms and explosives at Shekhadi coast in Raigad on February 3, 1993.

He was also convicted of transporting arms and explosives in a tempo from Shekhadi to Panvel.

However, Judge P D Kode acquitted him of charges of receiving arms training in Sandheri village of Raigad district.

Another of Tiger's aides, Yusuf Khan alias Qayum Kasam Khan, was also found guilty of transporting weapons.

Two farmers, Rashid Omar Alware and Abdul Aziz Gharatkar, were convicted for their complicity in the 1993 blasts.

Gharatkar was found guilty of participating in operations to land arms and explosives at Shekhadi coast.

Alware was acquitted of charges under TADA, but was found guilty under the Customs Act for carrying contraband to the house of another accused.

All the four accused were taken into custody after the verdict.

They face terms ranging from five years to life. With today's verdict, the court has so far pronounced 39 accused guilty in the case.

Meanwhile, three accused from Raigad district, who were convicted on Tuesday, have pleaded for leniency in sentencing, saying they had committed a mistake and were repenting for their act.

Yeshwant Nagu Bhoinkar, Abbas Dawood Shaikhdare and Shahjahan Ibrahim Shaikhdare, all fishermen, had provided trawlers to Tiger and his men for ferrying arms and RDX to Shekhadi coast.

They were acquitted under the TADA Act as the court held that they had no knowledge of the nature of the consignment but found guilty under Section 111 of Customs Act read with Section 135 of the same act.