By IANS
Mumbai : One more person was sentenced to death for involvement in the 1993 Mumbai terror bombings that killed 257 people taking the number of those sent to gallows for the crimes to seven so far.
Two others found guilty were given life imprisonment.
The Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) court sentenced Mohammed Iqbal Yusuf Sheikh to death for criminal conspiracy. He was guilty of lobbing a hand grenade at the Mumbai international airport though it did not lead to any casualties.
Charged with attempted murder, Sheikh was part of the conspiracy right from the beginning.
Bashir Ahmed Usman Gani Kharirula was given a life term on three counts. He had gone along with a group to lob hand grenades at the Mahim fishermen's colony. The attempt was, however, unsuccessful.
Former additional collector of customs (preventive wing) Somnath Thapa was also sentenced to life. He was found guilty of allowing absconding blast masterminds Dawood Ibrahim, Tiger Memon and Mohammed Dossa to smuggle in arms and explosives that were used in the blasts.
Sheikh had driven a motorcycle with fellow convict Nasir Barmare riding pillion to the Sahar International Airport and planted a RDX-laden scooter outside a doctor's clinic in busy Dadar in central Mumbai.
Barmare, who was given capital punishment on Tuesday, had lobbed the hand grenades at the parking bay of the airport. But the explosive laden scooter at Dadar, planted by Sheikh, had failed to explode due to malfunctioning of the triggering device.
The court observed that Sheikh was repeatedly involved in the conspiracy indulging in one terror act after another.
"Sheikh was part of the conspiracy from the beginning till the end and involved in repeated terror acts. Though in both the cases the devices failed to cause any death or damage, these were repeated terror acts and qualify as the rarest or rare case, satisfying a death sentence," special TADA judge Pramod Kode said.
A bearded and emaciated Sheikh, who could barely walk, broke down upon hearing the sentence and pleaded to be heard.
"I am a very sick man. Please hear me out and have mercy on me," Sheikh cried out as policemen escorted him out of the crowded court.
"It seems that he is not having his food properly. He even refuses special dietary provisions of eggs and milk. Make sure that he eats properly," Kode instructed the jail official after being told that Sheikh had been refusing food for the last couple of days awaiting his sentencing.
Kharirula, guilty of conspiracy and aiding and abetting the terror act, was spared the gallows as the court accepted his confessional statement.
"Kharirula had admitted that though he was part of the group which had gone to the fishermen's colony at Mahim in central Mumbai and lobbed hand grenades that killed three people and injured six others, he admitted that he was not able to throw the bomb as he could not open the bag which contained it," Kode noted.
"Though it amounts to a terror act, he did not commit the terror act and hence his death sentence is being reduced to rigorous life imprisonment," Kode said.
Kharirula was sentenced to rigorous life sentence on three counts for criminal conspiracy, aiding and abetment of terror acts and attempt to murder.
"The then additional collector of customs Somnath Thapa had intentionally aided and abetted the prime terror masterminds – absconding Dawood Ibrahim, Tiger Memon and Mohammed Dossa – for smuggling in arms and explosives into the country," Kode noted while sentencing Thapa to rigorous life imprisonment on two counts.
"Considering that Thapa is suffering from a life-threatening disease the prosecution did not ask for a death sentence," Kode said after sentencing him to two terms of life sentence for criminal conspiracy and aiding and abetment of terror acts.
Thapa, who is suffering from an advanced stage of lung cancer, was also asked to pay a fine of Rs.200,000.
Thapa has been out on bail on grounds of medical treatment. He was asked to be taken into jail after the sentencing.
The court, however, granted his lawyer's plea that he be given permission to get medical treatment as and when needed while serving his sentence.
Sixteen convicts have been given life imprisonment. Another 16, including Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, who was found guilty of illegally possessing arms, are yet to be sentenced.
The next sentencing will take place on July 24, Kode said.
All those sentenced so far can appeal to higher courts.