Jamnagar's special TADA court convicted 12 individuals on Monday in a case linked to the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts. The verdict relied on the 1994 confessional statement of Usmangani Noor Mohammad Merchant, detailing a January 1993 meeting at fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim's Dubai residence. The court found a conspiracy to avenge the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition.
Special TADA Judge RP Mogera accepted Usmangani's statement as evidence, noting it was recorded without coercion by then DIG Rajkumar James Benjamin. Usmangani, in Dawood's inner circle, described a late-night meeting at Dawood's Dubai residence between January 11 and 15, 1993, to plan revenge for the Babri Masjid demolition. He stated, “Hindus had committed atrocities on Muslims in Bombay and other places in India. Therefore, revenge is to be taken.” Dawood mentioned arms, explosives, rifles, cartridges and grenades received from Pakistan, sent to India via launches of Mustafa Dossa.
Tiger Memon, Anees Ibrahim, Chotta Shakeel and others took responsibility for arms distribution and sending men for Pakistan training. A week later, Dossa told Usmangani the arms had reached India, supplied by the Pakistan Navy at high seas. On March 12, 1993, after Mumbai blasts, Dossa confirmed Tiger Memon's involvement.
The court convicted 12 men, sentencing Salim Kutta and Mamumiya Panjumiya to seven years imprisonment, others to five years rigorous imprisonment. They included Osman Umar Koerja, Harun Adam Sanghar Vadher, Ahmed Ismail Oliya and others. Police linked them to weapons landing near Gosabara bridge, seizing AK rifles, cartridges and grenades.
Former sub-inspector Dilipsinh Vaghela recounted how a June 1993 interrogation of a seaman led to the plot, with his July 15 FIR naming Dawood first. The 'Gosabara RDX landing case' spanned over three decades, with top IPS and IAS officers as witnesses. The court ordered disposal of seized weapons post-appeal.
