Mumbai, May 21
The special court set up under the Terrorism and Disruptive Activities Act to hear the 1993 Mumbai blasts case today sentenced Mansoor Ahmed Sayyed Ahmed to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment.

Ahmed is a co-accused in the Mumbai blasts case along with actor Sanjay Dutt. He was found guilty of transporting arms and ammunition from the actor’s residence on the orders of gangster Abu Salem. Ahmed was found guilty under Section 3 (3) of TADA. Judge Pramod Kode of the TADA court also ordered Ahmed to pay a fine of Rs 50,000 failing which he would have to undergo another year’s rigorous imprisonment. Ahmed had already undergone over nine and half years in custody.

The court also sentenced four former police constables to six years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on each of them. They were found guilty of allowing associates of Tiger Memon to carry a truckload of explosives, arms and ammunition that were used to carry out the blasts.

The court accepted the prosecution’s contention that constables Ashok Muneshwar, S.Y. Palshikar, R. Mali and P. Mahadik took bribes from the driver of the truck to let it pass without inspection. The truck was intercepting at Dongar Phata, a short distance from the Dighi coast, by the police team consisting constables and police sub-inspector Vijay Krishna Patil. The vehicle carrying the deadly cargo was escorted by a senior customs official Jaywant Gurav, who accompanied the truck in his official vehicle. The judge, however, did not award life imprisonment on the four saying they were only following the orders of their senior, police sub-inspector V.K. Patil. The judge also noted that all the policemen were paid Rs 7 lakh in bribes for allowing the consignment to move without being checked.

The cops were found guilty under Section 3 (3) of TADA for aiding and abetting terrorist activities.