Mumbai, Sept. 7 (PTI): A Mumbai court today handed the death sentence to Tahir Merchant and Firoz Abdul Rashid Khan and life imprisonment to extradited gangster and Dawood Ibrahim aide Abu Salem in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case.

The 12 blasts had claimed 257 lives.

Besides Salem, the court sentenced Karimullah Khan to life imprisonment and sent another convict, Riyaz Siddiqui, to 10 years in jail.

A special TADA court had in June convicted six persons, including mastermind Mustafa Dossa and Salem, in the serial blasts case. It exonerated accused Abdul Quayyum for want of evidence.

All the seven accused were facing multiple charges, including criminal conspiracy, waging war against the Government of India and murder.

Salem, who was close to gangster Dawood's brother Anees Ibrahim and Dossa, had taken upon himself the responsibility of bringing a portion of the arms and ammunition consignment from Dighi to Mumbai, the court had said. Salem's act was "vital towards achievement of the conspiracy so that the weapons could be used to terrorise and torment innocent citizens of India", the court had said.

The trial of Salem, Dossa, Karimullah, Firoz, Siddiqui, Merchant and Abdul Quayyum was separated from the main case as they had been arrested later.

Dossa died of cardiac arrest at JJ Hospital in Mumbai shortly after being convicted on June 28.

The court had held that Merchant was among the main conspirators. He had worked with absconding conspirator Tiger Memon and participated in several conspiracy meetings in Dubai.

Tahir had made travel arrangements, financed the stay and travel of several co-accused and facilitated their training in Pakistan, the court noted.

It rejected Firoz's defence that he was not "Firoz Khan" but "Hamza".

The Congress today said justice had finally prevailed in the Mumbai serial blasts case and asserted that India was determined to fight terrorism and punish its perpetrators.

Congress communications chief Randeep Surjewala voiced hope that Dawood and Tiger would also be punished.

The BJP hailed the court verdict, saying it showed India's "unwavering commitment" to ensuring that the perpetrators of acts of terror did not go unpunished.