Mumbai, Sept. 22: The anti-terror court hearing the Bombay blasts case today convicted two of Dawood Ibrahim’s landing agents, in its first verdict that establishes the involvement of the absconding don.
Judge Pramod Kode found Dawood Mohammed Phanse alias Dawood Taklya, 82, and Sharif Abdul Gafoor Parkar alias Dadabhai, 75, guilty of charges under sections of the Indian Penal Code and the anti-terror act (Tada), taking the total number of convictions in the trial to 11.
Both face sentences ranging from five years’ rigorous imprisonment to life term. The arguments on their quantum of sentence will be held on Monday.
Kode had given his first judicial finding on Pakistan’s involvement in the 1993 serial blasts conspiracy when he convicted accused no. 29 Shahnawaz Qureshi. He was charged with acquiring arms training in the country.
Today’s conviction will further bolster India’s repeated demand to extradite Dawood from Pakistan. The don is believed to be staying in Karachi.
Before pronouncing the verdict, Kode asked the court staff to provide a chair for Phanse, the oldest among the 123 facing trial. He has been charged with hatching a criminal conspiracy with Dawood and the other absconding accused, Tiger Memon, and executing the landings of arms, ammunition and RDX on February 3 and 7 in 1993. Phanse was held guilty under Section 3 (3) and 6 of Tada and 120-b (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.
The court also accepted Phanse’s confession detailing his meeting with Dawood and Memon in Dubai on January 19, two months before the blasts. It stated that Memon had taken Phanse to Dawood’s Dubai home, where he agreed to oversee the landing of arms that would arrive in a speedboat on the Raigad coast.
Dawood had told him “hamari Babri Masjid ko giraya hai, uska badla lena hai (we have to take revenge for the demolition of the Babri Masjid)” before dropping him at a hotel in his Mercedes Benz, according to the confession.
Phanse has also said Memon was at Raigad to receive the consignments of arms and gunny bags of “kala sabun” (an underworld slang for black RDX).
Sharif Parkar, accused no. 17, was found guilty of participating in the landings with Phanse. However, Kode ruled that there was not enough evidence to prove the other charges against him.
The judge said the conspiracy charge could not be established because Parkar was not aware of the contents of the RDX consignments.
He said bribes had been given to customs officials, but the prosecution failed to prove that Parkar made the payments.
Kode also observed that though Parkar helped Memon locate Sandheri hills as an arms training site, it was not established whether he participated in the exercise.
The judge also recorded the statement of Pervez Nazir Ahmed Shaikh, who was convicted yesterday for planting bombs at Katha Bazaar and Sea Rock Hotel. He pleaded for leniency saying the key conspirators had taken advantage of his disturbed frame of mind after the Mumbai riots.
“My feelings were hurt. Minorities suffered great losses and nobody heard our grievances,” he said.
“I am not a terrorist. My grandfather was a school teacher and my father a railway station superintendent,” added Shaikh, a cloth hawker from Andheri.
He said he had to look after his old parents, his wife and a school-going son.
