1993 Mumbai blasts: Three convicted, two acquitted

A Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act court on Tuesday convicted three residents of Raigad in the 1993 bomb blasts case under the Customs Act for allowing use of their trawlers to bring in smuggled RDX and arms.

However, they were acquitted under TADA as the court held that they had no knowledge that the consignment contained RDX and arms.

The three are Yeshwant Nagu Bhoinkar, Abbas Dawood Shaikhdare and Shahjahan Ibrahim Shaikhdare. They were convicted under section 111 of Customs Act as they had transported goods from the sea to a location, which was not a port notified under the Act.

The court acquitted two other accused, Moinuddin Cheruvatam and Ismail Patel, of various charges including that of being party to 1993 bomb blasts conspiracy.

Moinuddin was charged with participating in a conspiracy meeting at Dubai, but prosecution failed to prove the charge and he was therefore acquitted.

Ismail was charged with arranging finance for co-accused Shaikh Aziz Ahmed for his travel to Pakistan via Dubai for arms training but as the charges were not proved, he too was acquitted.

With the conviction of Bhoinkar, Abbas and Shahjahan, the total number of accused found guilty has risen to 35.