"A good beginning has been made", said the Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday reacting to the verdict by a Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act Court in Mumbai against the accused in 1993 serial blasts.
"A good beginning has been made. The CBI will wait for the complete judgement to offer its holistic response," CBI spokesman G Mohanty told reporters in New Delhi.
Thirteen years after the blasts, the TADA court in Mumbai pronounced its verdict finding Tiger Memon's brothers Yakub, Essa, Yusuf and sister-in-law Rubina guilty of conspiracy for the incidents.
"The verdict in this case was awaited for the last three years. The CBI welcomes the fact that the judgement is now being delivered," the CBI spokesman said.
The CBI had collected additional evidence after taking over the probe from the Mumbai police and also identified 18 additional accused during its investigation.
The agency also arrested 26 accused, which included underworld don Abu Salem who was extradited from Portugal in November 2005 in connection with the blasts.
CBI pruned the list of 3,500 witnesses as cited by the Mumbai police to 684, who were essential to prove all the charges.
The trial against 123 accused persons was completed on September 19, 2003.