'93 blasts verdict on Aug 10

Thirteen years after the serial bomb blasts rocked the city, a TADA court said on Thursday it would deliver verdict on August 10 and asked the 123 accused, including actor Sanjay Dutt, to remain present on that day.

Designated judge P D Kode asked the accused not to leave the court's jurisdiction and remain present when he would deliver the verdict.

Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam welcomed the court's decision to give the verdict saying the accused had waited for 13 years to hear the decision.

Eighty-six accused on bail, including Dutt, appeared Thursday while 37 others, including extradited gangsters Abu Salem, Ejaz Pathan and Mustaffa Dossa, who are in custody, were produced

in keeping with the court orders.

Dutt is charged with possessing an AK-56 rifle and later destroying it with his accomplices.

In this case, the CBI had claimed that Dawood Ibrahim masterminded the blasts and Salem had gone to Dutt's residence to deliver the weapon.

CBI has also charged Salem with distributing arms to co-accused. Salem has denied the charge by retracting his police statement.

About 13,000 pages of evidence have been recorded and more than 600 witnesses have deposed, prosecutor Nikam said.

About 257 people were killed and 713 injured when series of explosions rocked 13 places in Mumbai in 1993. Property worth Rs 27 crore (Rs 270 million) was destroyed.