1993 Mumbai blasts: 4 custom officers, 3 others sentenced

MUMBAI: A court here on Tuesday awarded sentences ranging from five years' rigorous imprisonment to life sentence to seven persons, including a former senior Customs official, in 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.

The TADA court sentenced the then assistant collector of Customs in Raigad region R K Singh to nine years' rigorous imprisonment and slapped a fine of Rs three lakh on him for facilitating smuggling of arms and explosives through Shekhadi and Dighi in Raigad.

The explosives were eventually used in March 13, 1993, blasts that killed 257 people and injured over 700.

Handing down the punishment, Special Judge Pramod Kode quoted the saying in Marathi that "fence ate into the crop," which implies that protector became the predator.

Singh, along with his superior Somnath Thapa and three others, had facilitated the landing of weapons and explosives.

Singh had met prime conspirator Mohammad Dossa, who arranged landing of the arms and explosives at hotel Persian Durbar in Panvel. In this meeting, landing plans were discussed and the bribe amount for allowing the landing was negotiated.

"He granted permission for effecting the landing," judge Kode said, adding he had breached the trust imposed in him by the government and deserves no leniency.

The other three custom officers who were convicted were following Singh's instructions, Kode said.

Singh's junior, Sudhanwa Talawadekar, Superintendent of Customs, got eight years rigorous imprisonment and was asked to pay a fine of Rs two lakh. Talawadekar had gone to the sea shore at Shekhadi and met Tiger Memon during the landing.

At this meeting, he asked Memon whether the contraband was only sliver and not arms and explosives. Commenting on this, Kode said, "They were making mockery of law and order."

Mohammad Sultan Sayyed, who too was a Superintendent of Customs at Alibaug in 1993, was awarded seven years rigorous imprisonment and fine of Rs one lakh. Sayyed would also forfeit Rs 1,35,000 that was confiscated from him at the time of arrest.

The court, however, noted that Sayyed was acting on the instructions of R K Singh.

Former Customs Inspector at Srivardhan, Jaywant Gurav, was sentenced to eight years RI and ordered to pay a fine of Rs one lakh for facilitating the landing of explosives and arms at Dighi and Shekhadi prior to the blasts.

Gurav, who was present at Shekhadi during the landing on February 3, 1993, had even piloted the trucks carrying the contraband from Donghar phata to ensure they were not stopped by other agencies.

Apart from the customs officers, three others too were sentenced today.

Zameer Sayyed Ismail Kadri, a close associate of Mohammad Dosa, got life sentence and was directed to pay a total fine of Rs 1,25,000 on various counts. Judge noted that Kadri was "vitally concerned with Dighi landing" in January 1993 and convicted for being party to the conspiracy too.

However, the judge observed that Kadri could be held guilty on conspiracy count only to the extent of concealing a part of the consignment which had landed at Dighi and later attempting to destroy evidence by dumping it in a creek.

The court held that Kadri deserved no leniency since he tried to conceal the weapons after the blasts.

Kadri, along with three others, had been found guilty of concealing 12 AK-56 rifles, 36 magazines and 19,500 cartridges in the mango grove of one Abdul Razzak Subedar in Agarwadi village in Raigad district.

They were also held guilty of disposing of 19,000 cartridges and magazines in Raigad's Kandargaon creek.

Kadri's brother Shabbir, who is still absconding, was the "main man" at Dighi landing. Kadri's father, Sayyed Ismail Kadri, also an accused, was acquitted by the court.

Two others, Ayub Ibrahim Qureshi and Ehsaan Mohammed Qureshi, convicted for possessing arms in notified area under TADA, were sentenced to five years' RI and fine of Rs 25,000 each.

Both were found to have possessed pistols that were part of the consignment smuggled into the country by Memon and Dawood Ibrahim prior to the March 13 blasts.

The court has so far awarded sentences to 43 of 100 people convicted.