Sanjay Dutt, 4 others appear in 1993 bomb blast case

MUMBAI: Five accused in the 1993 bomb blast case, including film actor Sanjay Dutt, on Monday appeared before a designated TADA court which exempted them from personal appearance until further orders.

The designated TADA court, which reopened after Diwali vacation, has already decided the fate of 74 accused and would continue delivering remaining verdict from November 2.

Judge P D Kode has so far convicted 55 accused for their complicity in the blasts conspiracy and acquitted another 19 due to lack of evidence. Among the convicted are four family members of prime absconding accused Tiger Memon.

In all, 123 accused, including Dutt, faced the trial.

Dutt and film producer Sameer Hingora, who were allowed to move out of Mumbai limits during Diwali holidays, appeared before the court along with co-accused Ashraf-ur-Rehman, Imtiaz Ghawte and Firoz Amani Malik. While Dutt had gone to Pune and Delhi during the holidays, Hingora had gone to his native town Aurangabad.

Rubina Memon, convicted by the court for complicity in the blasts, also appeared in keeping with a bail condition and was exempted till further orders.

Dutt, still awaiting verdict, is charged with possessing an AK-56 rifle and destroying it with the help of friends. He has, howver, denied the charges and also withdrawn his confession. Two witnesses have also turned hostile.

According to CBI, co-accused Baba Musa Chohan, Samir Hingora and Hanif Kadawala had gone to Dutt's Bandra residence here at the instance of prime conspirator Anees Ibrahim and delivered weapons to the actor. He allegedly retained one AK-56 rifle and returned the rest which were then delivered at the house of co-accused Zebunissa Kazi.

Dutt is also charged with destroying the weapon with the help of his friends Yusuf Nullwala, Ajay Marwah, Kersi Adajania and Rusi Mulla. All of them have been granted bail.

The CBI said Dutt was shooting in Mauritius when he learnt about his complicity from media reports and allegedly asked his friends to go to his house and destroy the weapon.