MUMBAI: Among the seven persons sentenced on Tuesday in the Mumbai serial blasts case, four were Customs officials who helped the main conspirators smuggle in arms and ammunition for a bribe.

The seven were given terms ranging from five-year rigorous imprisonment to life sentence. Special judge P.D. Kode of the TADA court sentenced Zameer Ismail Qadir to RI for life and a fine of Rs. 1.25 lakh for his role in landing arms and for destruction of evidence.

He was not found guilty of a larger conspiracy. His role was proved in arms landing but not in meetings held thereafter to decide targets. However, he had been absconding in Indore, Ajmair and Mumbra, and was in close contact with one of the main conspirators Mohammad Dossa, said the judge.

He was also guilty of attempting to destroy magazines and cartridges after the blasts took place. His brother Shabbir, also an accused, is still absconding.

The court sentenced the former Customs officials, R.K. Singh, Jaywant Gurav, Mohammed Sultan Sayyad and Sudhanwa Talavdekar under Section 3(3) of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act for facilitating smuggling of arms and ammunition at Dighi and Shekhadi in the Konkan region in January and February 1993. The seniormost of them, Singh, who was an assistant commissioner of customs at Alibaug, was sentenced to nine-year RI and a fine of Rs. 3 lakh.

Direct evidence

Judge Kode said he did not deserve any leniency, as there was evidence of his involvement in the Dighi landing, of receipt of the bribe, and of his meetings with the conspirators on two occasions in hotels. Aplach kumpan shet khata (It was a case of fence eating crop), the judge said sarcastically. Sentencing Talavdekar, who was superintendent at Alibaug, to eight-year RI and a fine of Rs. 2 lakh, the judge said his conversation with the main accused on the nature of the goods in the contraband "made a mockery of the law and order system." The former superintendent Sultan Sayyad was sentenced to seven-year RI and a fine of Rs. 1 lakh, and the former inspector Jaywant Gurav to eight- year RI and a fine of Rs.1 lakh.

Towards the end of the proceedings, the judge sentenced Ehsaan Mohammad Qureshi and Ayub Ibrahim Qureshi to five-year RI and a fine of Rs. 25,000 each.

While Ehsaan was absolved of the conspiracy charge, Ayub was convicted under Sections 3 (3) and 5 of the TADA Act and under the Arms Act. An illegal weapon was recovered from them, but only in April 1993, long after the serial blasts. Hence they were awarded the minimum sentence under the Arms Act.

So far, the court has pronounced sentence on 43 of the 100 persons convicted in the case.

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