A TADA court on Thursday convicted four people on charges of helping 1993 Mumbai serial blasts mastermind Tiger Memon in landing arms and explosives.
Mohammed Ethesham, Shah Nawaz Khan, Sherif Khan Adhikari and Sujjad Alam were held guilty of landing arms and explosives in coastal Raigarh district's Shekhadi.
The court, however, acquitted Ashfaq Kasim Havaldar who was charged with driving a truck laden with arms and RDX from the Shekhadi coast to the microvave tower at Wangani for reloading them in trucks and tempos to be distributed to other accused.
Ashfaq was given the benefit of the doubt and let off as police had not recorded his confession to prove his guilt. The court held that though the co-accused had implicated him in their confession, there was no independent evidence to corroborate the charges.
Hearing the verdict, Asfaq was excited and bowed to the judge in a thanksgiving gesture.
Raigad resident Sharif Khan was absolved of TADA charges and found guilty only under Section 111 of the Customs Act as Judge Kode said he had no knowledge that the consignment contained arms and RDX.
"His fault was that he had brought loaders to the landing spot and contravened provisions of the Customs Act," the court observed.
Sujjad was found guilty under Section 3(3) of the TADA Act for organising the landing of arms and explosives but was acquitted of the charge of conspiracy. The court held that Sujjad was a close associate of prime landing agent Dawood Phanse alias Dawood Taklya.
While convicting him under the TADA Act, the court relied on his confession as well as those of co-accused. With conviction of four persons today, the number of those held guilty among the 123 accused has risen to 43.
Several accused, including actor Sanjay Dutt, are on bail and are being summoned as and when the court gives its verdict. Those found guilty on Thursday face prison terms ranging from five years to life.
All four men were taken into custody and their bail bonds cancelled. The court also wanted to pronounce its verdict on the involvement of another accused, Gulam Hafiz Shaikh alias Baba, but deferred its decision as his lawyer Farhana Shah said that his daughter and son-in-law were expected to come to Mumbai from Saudi Arabia to meet him.
As Baba is free on bail, the court allowed the defence plea and said it would give its verdict next week.