October 8: Seven years after serial blasts rocked the metropolis, killing 257 persons and maiming 713, the marathon trial has concluded with the Criminal Bureau of Investigation (CBI) examining 684 witness in a designated TADA court housed in central prison here.The CBI will formally close the case next week after the court decides on its plea to exhibit the reports of chemical analysers. These reports are crucial to the case for their pertain to the use of RDX, used in the blasts. The blasts were allegedly engineered by Dawood Ibrahim at the behest of Pakistan on March 12, 1993.The designated Judge Pramod Kode has directed defence lawyers Farhana Shah and Subhash Kanse to submit their reply in this regard tomorrow.The last witness to depose in the box was CBI officer and Chief Investigating Officer, O P Chatwal. The evidence of all the witness runs into 12,000 pages and the CBI has produced 2,500 documents as exhibits.After going through the entire evidence, the judge will pose questions to every accused, including film star Sanjay Dutt, on their alleged role in the crime. Statements of the accused would then be recorded under section 313 CrPC which provides undertrials an opportunity to fortify their defence.The framing of the questions by the judge has already begun. Thereafter both the sides would present their arguments on behalf of each and every accused before the court which is expected to deliver its verdict after two years, lawyers say.Altogether 129 accused are facing trial which commenced on June 30, 1995. The TADA court started functioning in central prison in July 1994. It was presided over by J N Patel who was elevated to Mumbai High Court on March 12, 1996. He was succeeded by P D Kode who has conducted the trial without a break since then.Of the 135 accused, Abu Asim Azmi and Amjad Mehr Bakshwere discharged by the supreme court while four others were killed and one died a natural death. Those who were shot dead by rivals were Majeed Khan, Shakeel Ahmed, Mohammed Jindran and Salim Kurla. Harba Hari Khopalkar died following illness.Last year, police arrested Mohammed Qasm Lajpuria alias Mechanic Chacha from an area bordering Nepal. He was produced before TADA court here which joined him in the trial later.About 29 accused are lodged in custody and the rest,including Sanjay Dutt, are on bail. The actor's incarceration aroused a great deal of public interest because his arrest came at the peak of his career. Every day his fans gathered outisde the prison hoping that the actor will be released.Sanjay's plea for bail was turned down by TADA court. He then wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of Supreme court from the prison urging for liberty. His letter was convered into a petition by the apex court which directed the TADA court to enlarge him after imposing conditions.After Sanjay's release on October 16, 1995, bail was also granted to other similarly placed accused. The next day 11 others got bail and gradually many others sought liberty.The CBI's case is that arms and ammunition landed at Dighi coast in Raigad district on January 9, 1993. It was organised by absconding accused Mohammed Dossa. Dawood's aide and absconding accused Tiger Memon organised more landings on February 2 and 7, 1993, at Shekhadi coast.The first two prosecution witnesses were the approvers, Mohammed Jamil Umar Khatab and Mohammed Usman Jan Khan. They unfolded the CBI's case in regard to the conspiracy to shatter the country's economy by causing blasts at 13 places.The approvers also revealed that the conspiracy meetings were held in Dubai at the Big Splash hotel in Alibag by Tiger Memon and his men. They also disclosed that accused were sent to Pakistan via Dubai for arms training.One of the approvers also described how RDX was planted in vehicles parked in the garrages of Tiger Memon's Al-Husseni building, a stone-throw distance from Mahim police station. He told the court that the accused were taught how to make car bombs and were whisked away from Pakistan's airport without any security checks to an undisclosed place for arms training.Mohammed Usman Jan Khan has revealed in his evidence that Tiger Memon had directed his men to open indiscriminate fire at civic body headquarters in the city to create terror. Some accused, including himself, had gone to execute this plan but abondoned the vehicle on the way because a crude bomb went off causing a loud noise.The car was registered in the name of Tiger's family member and this is how police learnt about his involvement in the conspiracy on the following day of the explosions.A day prior to the blasts, Tiger Memon had left for Dubai with his family members and never returned thereafter.His family members decided to return and were arrested on their arrival at Delhi airport. The Memon family claimed that they had surrendered before Indian embassy in Dubai which had made arrangements for them to reach here.
