By Abdul Hameed, TwoCircles.net,
Mumbai: A fast-track court on Wednesday awarded life imprisonment to Ashfaq Sheikh, an accused in the 1998 bomb blast at Santa Cruz which had claimed two lives and his two legs. His wife had testified against him.
Sheikh was allegedly carrying live bombs which had gone off at Golibar Nagar, Santa Cruz in Mumbai in 1998 and he had lost both of his legs. The blast had claimed two lives too.
The blast was a part of a series of bombings that took place in different parts of the city between August 1997 and February 1998. In these blasts four people were killed an over 30 injured. Besides Sheikh, twelve more people were arrested and 11 of them were sentenced to life imprisonment in February 2004. One accused had died during the trial. Sheikh, 38, an electrician by profession, was arrested on May 19, 1998.
The court had pardoned him from trial after he had become approver against the 12 co-accused but in 2002, he turned hostile. Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam is reported to have said that a person who does not comply with the condition of the pardon can again be made accused in the same case under section 308 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
In September 2006 Sheikh was granted bail on the ground that his trial was delayed considerably. However, Sheikh was convicted on February 11 on the basis of extra-judicial confession of his wife Asma Sheikh. Ujjwal Nikam said that Asma told the court that on the day of the incident Sheikh came to the house, took a bag and went out. It was after some time that the explosion occurred. ‘When I questioned him about the injury he told that he was carrying a bomb and it exploded accidentally.
Some media reports say Asma had confessed that there were some disputes between her and her husband Sheikh over property and they were living separately. It is alleged that she wanted Ashfaq to be in jail so that she may occupy the property.
Wheelchair-bound Sheikh still maintains that he is innocent and the bombs went off when he had gone to offer namaz in Santa Cruz.