A special POTA court on Wednesday pronounced the quantum of sentence for those convicted in the 2002-03 Mumbai blasts cases. Special Judge PR Deshmukh awarded ten years’ imprisonment to three accused – Saquib Nachan, Ateef Mulla and Hasseb Mullla, while awarding life term to key accused Muzammil Ansari. Two other accused – Wahid Ansari and Farhan Khot – have also been awarded life imprisonment for their involvement in the bomb blasts case.
According to inputs, rest accused will be set free after they furnish bail bonds as per procedure, as they have already undergone their maximum punishment.On March 29, the court had convicted 10 out of the 13 accused in the case. Those convicted are key accused Saquib Nachan, Ateef Mulla, Hasib Mulla, Ghulam Kotal, Mohammed Kamil, Noor Malik, Anwar Ali Khan, Farhaan Khot, Dr Wahid Ansari and Muzammil Ansari.
Twelve people were killed in Mulund train blasts on March 13, 2003. Prior to that, on December 6, 2002, several persons were injured in a blast at McDonald’s at Mumbai Central station, while a person had died in a blast in a market in Vile Parle (East) on January 27, 2003. Special public prosecutor Rohini Salian had demanded capital punishment for Muzammil Ansari, who had reportedly planted bombs. She had also sought life imprisonment for Saquib Nachan, Gulam Khotal, Farhaan Khot and Dr Wahid Ansari.
