1993 Mumbai blasts: One held guilty, one acquitted

A TADA court on Tuesday held Ehsan Mohammad Tufel Qureshi guilty of complicity in 1993 Mumbai serial blasts and acquitted another accused, Fasal Rehman Khan, for lack of evidence.

Ehsan was held guilty for keeping in his possession a Mouser pistol, which was part of the consignment smuggled by prime accused Tiger Memon to engineer the serial blasts.

Prosecution's case was that co-accused Firoz Amani Malik had sold the pistol to Ehsan for Rs 15,000 and had received a part-payment of Rs 5,000 for him.

Ehsan had concealed the weapon in Mahim creek, where it was later recovered by police.

He was found guilty under section 5 of TADA (P) (possession of weapon in notified area) and under the provisions of Arms Act.

But he was not found guilty under section 3(3) of TADA for aiding and abetting a terrorist act.

The judge P D Kode held that there was no evidence to suggest that he had links with terrorists.

The court also acquitted Fasal for lack of evidence. The judge held there was no evidence to show that he had persuaded co-accused Feroz Amani Malik to obtain weapon training in Pakistan for commission of a terrorist act.

The judge said that prosecution has failed to prove that Fasal possessed four hand grenades and given them to co- accused Mohammad Jamir Abdul Latif Mansoor.

The court also held that there was no evidence to show his links with the other accused.