'93 blasts: Worli bomber asks for leniency

Abdul Ghani Turk, an employee of absconding main accused Tiger Memon, said on Thursday that he was not a terrorist and pleaded for leniency in punishment.

"I am not a terrorist and was misguided and dragged into the conspiracy by the co-accused," Turk told judge P D Kode of the special Terrorist and Disruptive (Activities) Act court in a statement on the quantum of his sentence.

Turk said he had an 80-year-old mother and two small children to look after and pleaded that he may be shown leniency.

The TADA court had, on September 19, found Turk guilty of parking an RDX-laden jeep at Century Bazaar during the 1993 serial blasts. The blast at the market killed 88 people.

Turk was also found guilty of participating in the operation to land explosives at Shekhadi coast in Raigad district and filling of RDX in different vehicles that were used in the 1993 blasts.

The court, however, did not find him guilty of two other charges -- participating in arms training at Sandheri village near Borghat in Maharashtra and participating in the meeting where the conspiracy behind the blasts was hatched.