Indian court convicts four for 1993 Mumbai bombings
MUMBAI (Reuters) - An Indian court on Tuesday found four members of a Muslim family, including a woman, guilty in the 1993 bomb blasts in Mumbai that killed 257 people, the first convictions in one of the world's longest trials.
The series of 13 blasts in the country's financial hub, with targets including the Bombay Stock Exchange building, a cinema hall and a market, were the deadliest bomb attacks in India.
The Mumbai court found three other members of the Memon family accused in the case not guilty.
The verdicts against the remaining 116 defendants, including Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt, will be handed down in batches in the coming weeks, judge Pramod Kode said.
Sentencing will be announced after all the verdicts are delivered, which could take about six weeks, public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said.
The Memons were among the main accused in the case.
The four convicted -- Yakub, Essa, Yusuf and Rubina -- were charged with criminal conspiracy in organizing and carrying out the attacks. They could be sentenced to death depending on the seriousness of their crimes.
"The accused, who are on bail, should be taken into custody," judge Kode said, referring to the four Memons, as the packed court room listened in silence.
But there was pandemonium after the verdict was delivered.
Yakub Memon charged around the room and screamed: "This is a total farce. You are making good people terrorists while people who are really doing the bombings are making you look like fools."
Yakub tried to charge out of the room but was caught by police.
The prosecution has said the blasts were organized by two of the six Memon brothers, who have both fled the country. Those found guilty included three other brothers and Rubina, the wife of the sixth.
The trial, held in a court located inside a prison complex for security reasons, began in 1994, but hearings began in earnest only the following year. A total of 686 witnesses have been heard over more than a decade.
PROSECUTION HAPPY
Most prominent of the defendants is Dutt, arrested after two suspects said he had bought an assault rifle from them. The actor was freed on bail after more than a year in prison.
Dutt, a action hero whose comedy "Lage Raho Munnabhai" (Carry on Munnabhai) released this month is one of Bollywood's biggest hits of the year, arrived in court in a blue shirt and blue jeans with a large gold chain dangling around his neck.
He will have to wait a few weeks before the court delivers its verdict in his case, prosecutor Nikam said.
The prosecution wanted the court to deliver all verdicts at the same time but the judge refused saying it would take too much time, Nikam added.
"The court found four people guilty and we are happy with the ruling," Nikam said.
Indian authorities say Dawood Ibrahim, an alleged Mumbai Mafia don who they believe is now living in Pakistan, masterminded the attacks in retaliation for the destruction of a 16th century mosque by Hindu zealots.
Ibrahim and his associates never faced trial having fled the country soon after the blasts, investigators say. Ibrahim Mushtaq "Tiger" Memon, the eldest of six Memon brothers, was a close associate of Ibrahim and is suspected to be living with another brother in Pakistan, they say.
Of the 123 defendants, 11 died during the trial, 36 are in jail and the rest are out on bail. Another 37 suspects, including Ibrahim and Tiger Memon, have been declared "absconders" or fugitives.
The blasts were seen as retaliation for the demolition by Hindu zealots of the mosque in the northern town of Ayodha in December 1992 and subsequent nationwide clashes between Hindus and Muslims.
Investigators say that Ibrahim, a Muslim, may have been influenced by Pakistan, India's old enemy, to avenge the destruction of the mosque and the killing of Muslims.
They say the bombings were substantially funded from abroad but no clear links to Pakistan were established.
New Delhi has repeatedly asked Islamabad to hand over Ibrahim and his associates. Pakistan denies they are on its territory.
