Mumbai multiple blasts: Three of 10 convicts sentenced to life in jail

A special Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court in Mumbai on Wednesday sentenced bomb-planter Muzammil Ansari, Wahid Ansari and Farhaan Khot to life imprisonment in connection to the multiple blasts that rocked the city between December 2002 and March 2003, killing 13 people.

Former general secretary of SIMI Saquib Nachan, along with Ateef Mulla, Hasib Mulla and Gulam Khotal, have been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. However, the three will be released after two years as they have already completed eight years of imprisonment.

Noor Malik, Anwar Ali and Muhammed Kamil were sentenced to two years in jail.

“If given death sentence, his life would be over in fraction of seconds and he would not feel the pain that the victims and their family had to go through,” said Special Judge PR Deshmukh.

On March 29, the court convicted ten out of 13 accused in this case.

Those convicted include Saquib Nachan, Ateef Mulla, Hasib Mulla, Ghulam Kotal, Mohammed Kamil, Noor Malik, Anwar Ali Khan, Farhaan Khot, Dr Wahid Ansari and Muzammil Ansari.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 9,45,000 on all the convicts. The court directed that 75 per cent of fine amount would be given to victims and 25 per cent to the Central Railways.

The Mulund train blasts occurred on March 13, 2003 killing 13 persons and injuring 71. Earlier, on December 6, 2002 several persons were injured in the blast at McDonald's at Mumbai Central station, while a person died when a bomb attached to a cycle exploded in a market area in Vile Parle (East) on January 27, 2003.

During the trial, prosecution examined 153 witnesses out of which many (from Padga turned hostile) while the defence examined 30 witnesses.

The trial began in 2014, as earlier some of the accused had challenged POTA and had also challenged clubbing of the cases.