According to the latest developments, the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court awarded the bomb planter Muzammil Ansari a sentence of life imprisonment along with the alleged SIMI operator Saquib Nachan to 10 years of imprisonment, on Wednesday.
Other key associates in the triple blasts that shook the very core of Mumbai between December 2002 and March 2003, Farhan Malik Khot and Dr Wahid Abdul Ansari, were also awarded a lifetime sentence. In all, ten people had been put on trial and found guilty. Back in the 2002-03, a total of three bomb blasts had occurred: One in a McDonald’s outlet inside the Mumbai Central railway station, Vile Parle (East), and a first class compartment of a Karjat-bound local train at the Mulund railway station.
Muzammil Ansari
Pronouncing verdict in the 13-year-old case, Justice P. R. Deshmukh convicted the alleged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC): SIMI operative Saquib Nachan, Ateef Nasir Mulla and Hasib Zubier Mulla under relevant sections of POTA and the Arms Act; and Muzammil Akhtar Ansari under POTA, Explosive Substances Act, Arms Act, Indian Railways Act and Prevention of Damage to Property Act.
Further investigation into the blasts had revealed that all the three had been carried out by one group, making them a triple blasts series.
Source and picture(s): Various Agencies.
Tags: 2002-03 Mumbai blasts Mumbai blasts Mumbai triple blasts POTA
