A special court Monday ended India’s largest terrorism case by finding 100 people guilty out of 123 accused in the 1993 Mumbai bombings case after a decade of trials, the chief prosecutor said. The court, headed by Judge Pramod Kode, convicted six people Monday, taking the total number of convictions to 100. Another 23 were acquitted of any role in serial blasts across India’s financial hub that killed 257 people. The six men convicted Monday – Bashir Khairulla, Zahir Hussain, Abdul Khan, Firoz Mallik, Moin Qureshi and Salim Shaikh – could face the death penalty. They were convicted of participating in weapons and explosives training in Pakistan in January 1993, participating in planning meetings, packing the powerful RDX explosive used in the blast into cars and scooters and lobbing hand grenades in a Mumbai suburb. Public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said prosecution and defence lawyers would begin arguments on sentencing next week, a process that could take up to a month. “This is a historic case. Never before in Indian history have 100 people been convicted in a single case,” Nikam told reporters.
The trial, described as IndiaÂ’s longest, began on June 6, 1995. Kode began delivering the judgments in September. The court convicted eight people for planting 13 bombs, of which twelve exploded across the city, including landmarks like the stock exchange. At least ten people were found guilty of being trained in terrorist camps across the border in Pakistan, while five policemen and four customs officials were found guilty of abetting in the conspiracy.
Sentencing for those convicted, including Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt for possessing weapons but not for a charge linked to the attacks, will be announced in January, said Nikam.