By IANS
Mumbai : Another bodyguard of Tiger Memon, a prime accused in the 1993 serial bombings here, was Wednesday awarded life sentence on two counts for his role in the devastating terror attack and was also fined Rs.100,000.
Sardar Shahvali Khan was convicted for criminal conspiracy and aiding and abetting a terror act by the anti-terror TADA court here.
Two other people sentenced were an arms supplier and a hawala operator who helped Memon channel illegal funds from abroad for the blasts.
Moolchand Shah, who facilitated Memon to operate a hawala account through which he is said to have transferred Rs.19.7 million, was given five years rigorous imprisonment. He was fined Rs.500,000 – the highest so far for a single count.
Memon, who was closely linked to key conspirator Dawood Ibrahim, fled India with some of his family members just before the blasts.
"Shah was paid Rs.18,500 for his services to channelise funds for the blasts," Special TADA judge Pramod Kode said while reading out his sentence.
Shah broke into tears after hearing his sentence and pleaded with Kode to be lenient with him since he was a sick man. He claims to be suffering from pancreatic problems.
"I have to be just to everyone and I have awarded the minimum possible sentence taking your health into consideration," Kode told Shah.
Baba Musa Chauhan, convicted of supplying an AK-56 rifle to Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt at the behest of Dawood Ibrahim's brother Anees, was sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment on five counts and fined Rs.300, 000.
"He is also guilty of possessing one AK-56 rifle, 675 rounds of ammunition, 10 magazines and 25 hand grenades, which gangster Abu Salem had promised to collect later but never turned up," Kode said.
Chauhan was charged with aiding and abetting terrorist acts, and illegal possession of weapons. He was also sentenced under Section 6 of the TADA Act for enhanced punishment, the Explosive Substances Act and the Arms Act.
Salem, who was extradited from Portugal in 2005, is being tried separately for his role in the blasts.
Manoj Gupta, another bodyguard of Memon, was Tuesday sentenced to 14 years' rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs.375,000.
The serial blasts that rocked Mumbai on March 12, 1993 was the worst urban terror attack in the world until then and claimed at least 257 lives and injured hundreds.
Kode said that he would take up the sentencing of the 10 bomb planters along with the three Memon brothers – Yakub, Essa and Yusuf – after he finished sentencing those who face lesser terms.
Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, convicted under the Arms Act, is among the 29 of the 100 convicts yet to be sentenced.
The terror attack followed the razing of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya in December 1992 and the communal violence that swept Mumbai the next month.
The three key conspirators Dawood Ibrahim, Tiger Memon and Mohamed Dossa have been declared "absconders" by the court.