10-11-2006, 02:57 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->DNA India reports
<b>1993 Mumbai blasts: 3 fishermen held guilty for lending trawlers </b>
Anshika Misra
Tuesday, October 10, 2006 14:40 IST
<b>A TADA court on Tuesday held three fishermen guilty under the Customs Act for providing their trawlers to Tiger Memon and his men to smuggle arms and RDX, which were used in the 1993 serial blasts.</b>
The court acquitted two others accused of mobilising support and funds for the conspiracy due to lack of evidence.
<b>Yeshwant Bhoinkar, Abbas Dawood Shaikhdare and Shahjahan Shaikhdare, fishermen from Raigad district, had given trawlers to Tiger and his men to ferry arms and RDX to Shekhadi coast.</b>
The three were absolved of charges under the TADA Act as they did not have knowledge of the contents of the smuggled consignment. But Judge PD Kode held them guilty under the Customs Act for assisting in the landing of a consignment at a place where there was no customs port. The three aged men face a maximum punishment of imprisonment up to five years.
The confession of co-accused Harba Khopatkar, who died during the trial, was accepted by the judge as evidence against the three. Though not initially charged for an offence under the Customs Act, Judge Kode took recourse to a section under TADA, which empowers the court to convict an accused for an offence revealed during investigation.
<b>The court acquitted two others, Moinuddin Abdul Kader Cheruvattam and Ismail Abbas Patel, for lack of evidence. Cheruvattam was charged with participation in conspiratorial meetings in Dubai, helping absconding accused Tahir Taklya in collecting funds for the conspiracy and distributing video cassettes as propaganda material in Dubai to gain support and garner funds</b>.
Patel was charged of arranging finance for co-accused Shaikh Aziz Ahmed for his travel to Pakistan via Dubai for arms training and being part of the blasts conspiracy. The judge discarded the confession made by Cheruvattam and Patel and found no evidence to corroborate the charges.Â
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<b>1993 Mumbai blasts: 3 fishermen held guilty for lending trawlers </b>
Anshika Misra
Tuesday, October 10, 2006 14:40 IST
<b>A TADA court on Tuesday held three fishermen guilty under the Customs Act for providing their trawlers to Tiger Memon and his men to smuggle arms and RDX, which were used in the 1993 serial blasts.</b>
The court acquitted two others accused of mobilising support and funds for the conspiracy due to lack of evidence.
<b>Yeshwant Bhoinkar, Abbas Dawood Shaikhdare and Shahjahan Shaikhdare, fishermen from Raigad district, had given trawlers to Tiger and his men to ferry arms and RDX to Shekhadi coast.</b>
The three were absolved of charges under the TADA Act as they did not have knowledge of the contents of the smuggled consignment. But Judge PD Kode held them guilty under the Customs Act for assisting in the landing of a consignment at a place where there was no customs port. The three aged men face a maximum punishment of imprisonment up to five years.
The confession of co-accused Harba Khopatkar, who died during the trial, was accepted by the judge as evidence against the three. Though not initially charged for an offence under the Customs Act, Judge Kode took recourse to a section under TADA, which empowers the court to convict an accused for an offence revealed during investigation.
<b>The court acquitted two others, Moinuddin Abdul Kader Cheruvattam and Ismail Abbas Patel, for lack of evidence. Cheruvattam was charged with participation in conspiratorial meetings in Dubai, helping absconding accused Tahir Taklya in collecting funds for the conspiracy and distributing video cassettes as propaganda material in Dubai to gain support and garner funds</b>.
Patel was charged of arranging finance for co-accused Shaikh Aziz Ahmed for his travel to Pakistan via Dubai for arms training and being part of the blasts conspiracy. The judge discarded the confession made by Cheruvattam and Patel and found no evidence to corroborate the charges.Â
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