The Special TADA court will pronounce its judgement in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case today in which there are seven accused who played important roles in the conspiracy and planning of the serial blasts to its execution.

The trial which started in 2012 has seen 64 prosecuted witnesses while 48 defence witnesses have also been presented in court. Also, witness' statements and confessions from earlier trials have been used in the case.

Special Counsel Deepak Salvi said, "The accused had challenged the use of witnesses and evidence from previous trials but the CBI intervened and the permission to use old witnesses and evidence was granted by the court."

Apart from this, there are 1,50,000 documents which include the judgement of the earlier trial. Judge G A Sanap who had conducted the trial from 2012 put forth 14998 questions for each of the seven accused during the recording of their statements.

KEY ACCUSED AND THEIR ROLE Abu Salem, who was extradited from Portugal in 2005 is not just accused of but also transporting the arms and ammunition sent by Mustafa Dosa from Bharuch to Mumbai and giving it to Sanjay Dutt among others. Mustafa Dossa along with his absconding accused brother Mohammed Dosa is accused of holding the meetings before the blast at his residence in Dubai and then supplying all the arms and ammunition to Mumbai. Karimullah Khan had sent a friend to learn arms training in Pakistan and had even helped in the landing of arms and ammunition including the RDX at Shekhadi. He was involved with Tiger Memon, one of the main conspirators in the case. Firoz Abdul Rashid Khan used to work at the office of Mustafa Dossa and had taken part in conspiratorial meetings in Dubai. He had also helped in the landing of arms and ammunition and had managed the custom and police officers so that no one would raise objection to the landing of the dreaded consignment. He is also accused of destroying the arms which could be evidence, after the blast. Riyaz Siddiqui handed over the Maruti van full of money to Abu Salem at Bharuch. Tahir Merchant collected money for conspiracy at Dubai and took care of the entertainment of the youths who were coming from India for training in Pakistan. He looked after their boarding and lodging and sent them back to India via Dubai after training. Abdul Qayyum was the manager of Dawood Ibrahim's office in Dubai. His role was explained by Abu Salem himself when in a confession he said that the material that he brought from Bharuch belonged to Qayyum and Anees ibrahim, the younger brother of Dawood.

THE DEFENCE OF THE ACCUSED

In their defence, the accused have said that they were not involved in the conspiracy.

Advocate Farhana Shah who is representing Riyaz and Karimullah said, "There are many contradictions in the evidence. The confessions put forth by the prosecution and the statements of the accused are also contradictory. Thus, we say that the allegations cannot be proved. Also, even if the accused took part, they did not know that they were helping in landing and transportation of arms and ammunitions. Karimullah had gone to help in only the landing of silver which was being smuggled at that time."

The trial held earlier against 123 accused ended in 2006. At the end of which, 100 by the TADA court. 12 among those convicted including actor Sanjay Dutt were handed out death sentences. However, in March 2013, the Supreme Court commuted the death penalty of all except one- Yakub Memon, brother of prime absconding accused Tiger Memon. The life term for six other convicts was enhanced. Yakub was hanged two years ago in Nagpur.

12 bombs had gone off at several locations in Mumbai on March 12, 1993 killing 257 people and injuring 713, while destroying property worth Rs 27 crore.

33 accused including Dawood Ibrahim, Anees Ibrahim, Tiger Memon and Mohammed Dossa are still wanted in connection with the case.

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