Mumbai blasts: SC to decide Sanjay 's fate tomorrow
There is no CBI appeal against Sanjay Dutt's acquittal under TADA.
MUMBAI (Web Desk): The Supreme Court will on Thursday pronounce the much-awaited verdict in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case in which Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt was convicted by a special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA) court under Arms Act.
A bench of Justice P Sathasivam and Justice BS Chauhan would deliver the judgment on the appeals filed by the convicted also by CBI challenging acquittals.
The agency had also moved appeals seeking enhancement of sentence of 47 persons who were convicted of lesser offence.
CBI had filed 48 appeals of which 20 were against those who were acquitted of all the charges. There is no CBI appeal against Dutt s acquittal under TADA.
Sanjay Dutt was sentenced to six years jail term for possessing a weapon illegally and had spent 16 months in jail after his arrest in 1993.
He was, however, acquitted of the stringent charges under TADA, now a defunct law. The special court in Mumbai had found 100 persons guilty in September 2006 but the sentencing was done in various phases and ended in July 2007.
Dutt, who was sentenced in July 2007, had moved the Supreme Court challenging his conviction and was granted bail in November 2007.
The serial blasts that took place on March 9, 1993 killed 257 persons and injured 700 in Mumbai. The special TADA court had pronounced death to 12 and sentenced 20 to life imprisonment.
Yakub Memon, brother of prime absconding accused Tiger Memon, was one of those sentenced to death.
Tiger Memon alongwith underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and Mohammed Dossa were alleged to have hatched the conspiracy in Dubai to carry out the serial blasts following the communal riots that broke out post-Babri masjid demolition.
Others sentenced to death were -- Shoaib Ghansar, Asghar Mukadam, Shah Nawaz Qureshi, Abdul Ghani Turk, Parvez Shaikh, Mohammad Iqbal Mohammad Yusuf Shaikh, Mohammad Farooq Pawale, Mushtaq Tarani, Zakir Hussain, Abduk Akhtar Khan and Firoz Amani Malik.
The death sentences have been stayed after the convicts approached SC challenging their conviction.
Among the 20 sentenced to life imprisonment include Essa Memon, Yusuf Memon, Rubina Memon, Naseem Barmare, Imtiaz Ghavate, Bashir Khairulla, Moin Qureshi, Dawood Phanse, Abdul Gafoor Parker and Vijay Patil.
