Mumbai 146;93: Five cops held guilty

Unlike Patil, four constables8212; accused No 110 Shrikrishna Palshikar, accused No 101 Ramesh Mali, accused No 70 Ashok Muneshwar, and accused No 99 Pandarinath Mahadik8212; were pronounced guilty of only aiding and abetting the terrorist act.

Patil and the four constables face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and their bail now stands cancelled. While Patil was granted bail in November 1998, the seven constables were out on bail from 1995.

The convicted policemen, posted at Shrivardhan police station in Raigad district, were found guilty of 8220;illegal omission of their duty8221; as they didn8217;t thoroughly check the lorries carrying arms, ammunition and explosives on the night of January 9, 1993 at Ghondgar Phata and failed to seize those vehicles.

Constable Mahadik8217;s role as the driver of the police jeep that had intercepted the lorry has been proved and a sum of Rs 59,000 was also recovered from him during investigation. They were also found guilty of accepting a bribe of Rs 7 lakh after negotiating with co-accused Uttam Potdar and Customs inspector Gurav.

Judge Kode, however, acquitted three other constables8212; accused no 84 Krishna Pingle, accused no 83 Krishna Mokal and accused no 87 Manohar More8212; as their identity in the conspiracy could not be established for any of the offences slapped on them.