By IANS
New Delhi : The Supreme Court Tuesday granted bail to seven convicts of the 1993 Mumbai serial terror bombing case but denied the relief to four others,including fugitive underworld don and blast mastermind Tiger Memon’s sister-in-law Rubina Suleman Memon.
A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan also ordered the Maharashtra government to constitute a medical board to examine whether one of the Memon brothers, Yusuf Abdul Razak Memon, sentenced to life in jail, is actually suffering from chronic schizophrenia and deserves bail on that ground.
The bench, which included Justice R.V. Raveendran and Justice J.M. Panchal, decided to take up Yusuf Memon’ bail plea Feb 22 after examination of his mental condition by the medical board.
The bench dismissed the bail pleas of the four lifers, saying: “They do not have fit cases to be admitted for bail.”
The three lifers denied bail were Sardar Sahawali Khan, Muzamil Umar Kadri, Zamir Sayed Ismail Kadri.
The seven convicts who were eventually granted bail were Khalil Ahmed Sayed Ali Nazir, Shahnawaz Hajwani, Mujib Sharif Parkar, Sudhanwa Sadashiv Talavdekar, Ehsan Mohammad Tufel Qureshi, Sikkandar Issaq Hajhwane and Issaq Mohammed Hajwane.
Rubina and Yusuf Memon were convicted for allowing their houses to be used for conspiracy meetings and storage of arms and explosives. They had also given their van for the bombings that shook the metropolis on March 12, 1993 and killed 257 people.
Sardar Shahwali Khan was sentenced to life term and a Rs.100,000 fine for hatching the conspiracy, while Muzamil Umar Kadri was given life sentence and a Rs.125,000 fine for arranging arms landing in Shekhadi and for conspiracy.
Similarly, Zameer Sayyed Ismail Kadri was awarded life sentence and a Rs.125,000 fine for being a party to the conspiracy and arranging arms landing at Mumbai’s coastal area in Dighi.
The convicts, who were granted bail, were sentenced to 10 years or less for their respective roles in the terror attack and had spent a considerable period in jail.
For example, Khalil Ahmed Sayed Ali Nazir was given 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment and a Rs.125,000 fine for arms landing in Shekhadi area of Mumbai.