TADA court holds one guilty in 1993 blasts

Ehsan Mohammad Tufel Qureshi was held guilty of complicity in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts.

A TADA court on Tuesday held Ehsan Mohammad Tufel Qureshi guilty of complicity in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts and acquitted another accused Fasal Rehman Khan for lack of evidence.

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Ehsan was held guilty for keeping in his possession a Mouser, which was part of the consignment smuggled by prime accused Tiger Memon to engineer serial blasts.

Prosecution's case was that co-accused Firoz Amani Malik had sold the pistol to Ehsan for Rs 15,000 and had received a part-payment of Rs 5,000 for him.

Ehsan had concealed the weapon in Mahim creek, which was later recovered by the police.

He was found guilty under section 5 of TADA (P) (possession of weapon in notified area) and under the provisions of Arms Act. But he was not found guilty under section 3 (3) of TADA for aiding and abetting a terrorist act. The judge PD Kode held that there was no evidence to suggest that he had links with terrorists.

Court also acquitted Fasal for lack of evidence. The Judge held there was no evidence to show that he had persuaded co-accused Feroz Amani Malik to obtain weapon training in Pakistan for commission of a terrorist act.

The judge said that the prosecution has failed to prove that Fasal possessed four hand grenades and gave them to co-accused Mohammad Jamir Abdul Latif Mansoor.

The court also held that there was no evidence to show his links with the other accused.