Mumbai, August 06: A special POTA court here on Thursday will pronounce the quantum of sentence for the three convicted in the 2003 Mumbai twin blasts case.
The court had earlier convicted Ashrat Shafique Ansari (32), Mohammed Hanif Sayed (46) and his wife Fehmida Sayed (43) for murder and conspiracy under Sections 302, 307, 427 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code, besides finding them guilty under Section 3 of POTA.
Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam had, during the arguments, pleaded capital punishment for all three convicts “since they committed a heinous crime killing 54 people and injuring more than 244”.
Nikam had also argued that how the accused planned to execute more blasts in the city and their intentions to kill more people had they not been arrested by the authorities soon after the twin blasts.
Sentencing was originally scheduled for August 4 but was differed to today.
On August 25, 2003 two blasts had rocked the Gateway of India and the busy Zaveri Bazaar in South Mumbai. The blasts were carried out by a terror module of the LeT.
–Agencies