93 Bomb Blast Case: Yakub Memon Death Sentence Appeal Supreme Court Judgement: Part 014
Final Analysis relating to A-1
241) From the total appreciation of the evidence as produced by the prosecution in support of the case against A-1, an offence of conspiracy is clearly made out. The evidence in respect of A-1 is in the nature of confessions made by the co-accused persons, the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses and documentary evidence on record and recoveries.
a) A10 in his confessions has categorically stated that A-1 is the younger brother of Tiger Memon. It was A-1 who attended many telephone calls at the Tiger’s residence. On 10/11.02.1993, A-1 handed over three tickets to Dubai and three passports to A10 asking him to pick up A-100, A- 16 and Salim from Midland Hotel and handover the tickets and passports to them and also directed to drop them at the airport by taxi, all of which, was duly done by A-10. He further stated that at the airport, Tiger told them that he should keep in touch with A-1 and in case of any requirement of money he should get the money from Choksi (A-97). On 13th February, A-1 directed A-10 to collect Rs. 1 crore from Choksi (A-97) for him. A-10 collected the said money along with co-accued Abdul Gani (A-11), Parvez (A-
12), Md. Hussain, Salim and Anwar Theba (AA). On 17/18th February, A-1 directed A-10 to remain with Rafiq Madi (A-46). On the next day, A-10 and A-46 picked up Irfan Chougule (AA) from Mahim and Shahnawaz (A-29) and his companion from Bandra Reclamation and dropped them at the Airport. It was A-1 who directed A-10 to transfer rupees 25 lakhs from Tiger’s account to Irani’s account and also to transfer Rs. 10 lakhs to Ohalia’s account which was duly done by A-10. The timing of these transfers if seen in the context of activities being carried out contemporaneously was for meeting the expenses for achieving the objects of conspiracy, to meet the expenses incurred for admitting of co-conspirators and also to meet the expenses to be incurred during the abscontion period.
b) In the same way, A-11, in his confession specifically stated that on 27th/28th January A-1 was present at Al-Hussaini Building with other co- accused, i.e., A-46, A-15, A-12, A-52. On 07.03.1993, A-11 was present at Al Hussaini Building along with Tiger, Shafi, Essa (A-3), A-7, A-5 and A-6.
c) (A-46), in his confession referred to the role of A-1 apart from mentioning that he is the younger brother of Tiger Memon. He further confessed that he used to drive Tiger’s blue Maruti-800 for attending to all business activities. On 8th or 9th February, he handed over Rs. 50,000/- to him which was in turn given to Altaf Passportwala. Between 14/15th February, Anwar filled up brown coloured substance in three VIP suitcases from the secret cavity of the jeep at the instructions of A-1 in his presence. Next day, A-1 gave Rs. 62,000/- to Rs. 63,000/- to him to be given to A-67. On 17th February, A-1 handed over five passports and tickets to Anwar for Yeda Yakub and others for their departure to Dubai. The next day, on the directions of A-1, A-46 dropped Irfan Chougule (AA), Asgar Yusuf Mukadam (A-10) and Shahnawaz at the Airport for their departure to Dubai. On 14th, he was given Rs. 4 lakhs by A-1 after collecting the said amount from Choksi A-97.
d) A-67 in his confession referred to the role of A-1. A-1 asked A-67 about the bags that have been delivered to him by Ajmal. It was A-1 who arranged for tickets for some ten accused through him by sending money etc. A-1 sent three bags through A-46 to accused A-67 for safe keeping of the same which contained arms and ammunitions. A-1 instructed A-67 over phone for sending the bags to Al-Hussaini i.e. residence of Memon’s family. Earlier, A-1 had asked A-67 to keep the bags. When A-67 told A-1 that he may be implicated, A-1 replied that he need not worry.
e) The confessional statement of A-97 clearly establishes that Tiger had an account with him in which various amounts totaling about Rs.161.48 lakhs were deposited by A-26 at the behest of Tiger Memon (AA) which was also controlled by A-1. It is relevant to mention that on 12.02.1993, at the time of departure to Dubai, Tiger told A-10 that he should remain in contact with A-1 and should bring money for him from A-97 in case A-1 needed money. From the above, it could safely be inferred that the account maintained with A-97 by Tiger Memon was being used for meeting the expenses incurred for achieving the objects of criminal conspiracy and A-1 was handling it through the other co-conspirators.
242) Confessional statements of A-10, A11 and A-46 clearly reveal that the relevant role of collecting money was played by A-10 at the behest of A-1. In the said context, the material contained in the confession of A-10 that while leaving for Dubai, Tiger Memon told him to remain in touch with A-1 and having further told that in the event of A-1 requiring any money A-10 should collect the same from A-97 clearly reveals that A-1 himself having not collected the money from A-97 but he was using A-10 for the said purpose and was actively involved in day-to-day activities. The same is further clear in the confession of A-10 which reveals that after A-1 having told him to bring about an amount of Rs. 1 lakh from A-97, the manner in which the said amount was brought by A-10 by going to the house of A-97 along with A-11, A-12 and two more persons.
243) Apart from the above evidence, Asif Sultan Devji (PW-341) and Massey Fernandes (PW-311) have deposed about booking of 12 tickets and 1 ticket respectively at the instance of A-67. It is relevant to note that A-67 in his statement under Section 313 of the Code has admitted having booked the tickets for Dubai through the said witnesses.
244) PW-2, Approver had categorically stated that A-1, at the instance of Tiger, gave air tickets to Javed which were of A-100, A-52, A-60, A-32 besides for himself.
245) It has also come in the evidence of S. P. Udayavar (PW-441) that at the instance of A-1, in January and March, 1993, he booked tickets for Dubai vide Exh. 1421. PW-441 had categorically stated that the tickets booked by him were collected by a person from Tejarath International sent by A-1. All the above details clearly show that the tickets booked by A-67 and others at the behest of A-1 were for the co-accused, who went to Dubai and, subsequently, to Pakistan for weapons training as revealed in their confessional statements and evidence of PW-2. All this information emanated not only from the accused in their confessional statements but also from the persons who were in charge of issuance of tickets at the travel agencies and Airport. In the light of evidence of PW-441 about booking of tickets by A-1 in the account of Tejarath International coupled with the confession of co-accused A-14, A-94, A-49 and A-39 regarding their visits to Dubai during the relevant time, establish that A-1 had booked air tickets for the co-conspirators mentioned above. The examination of Vijayanti B. Dembla (PW-313) and Nitin K More (PW-310) establishes that it was A-1 who was booking tickets and used to send his employee to collect them from East West Travels. The examination further reveals that the office of his firm was burnt in the riots and he started working from his residence at the Al-Hussaini Building.
246) It is also seen from the confession of A-67 that A-1 had given him four bags on the first occasion which were containing ammunitions. On the second occasion, A-46 had delivered three more suit cases to A-67 and upon being asked by him, A-46 stated that the suit cases were containing round bombs etc. Thus, A-67, in all had received 7 bags from A-1 through A-46 which containing arms/ammunition etc. A-67, thereafter, returned five bags to A-1 that included four bags which were received on the first occasion and one of the three received on the second occasion. The above confessional statement of A-67 corroborated the evidence of Akbar Khan Abusama Khan (A-37). A-46 in his confessional statement also stated about the delivery of three suit cases to A-67 by A-1. Though some discrepancies are there, in the light of the abundant materials, if we read the entire confessional statement of A-67, those were not of much importance.
247) It is further seen that in all important meetings with Tiger Memon, particularly, at the residence Al-Hussaini, A-1 used to interact with him. It is further clear that the confessional statement of A-67 corroborated the evidence of PW-37, PW-506 and PW-282. It has also come in evidence that A-1 was in possession of handgrenades and electronic detonators which were concealed in the jeep and which were delivered to A-67 in three suit cases by A-1 through A-46. It is also seen from the evidence of PW-87, driver working for A-5 and PW-630 Manager of Hind Automobile and Company that the Maruti Car bearing No. MP-09-H-0672 belonged to A-1 and the evidence also establishes that he is the owner of the said vehicle which was involved in the said bomb blast. It has been proved that the said maruti car of blue colour was planted at Bombay Stock Exchange which exploded at 0330 hours killing 84 persons, injuring 270 persons and causing loss of property worth Rs. 5 crores. The number plate (Art. 227) bearing MP-09-H-0672 was seized from the place of occurrence by Deputy Manager, Bombay Stock Exchange (PW-82). Engine No. and Chassis No. were seized by PW- 86 and PW-370 respectively. The said maruti car was purchased by Shafizarimal in the beginning of the year 1992 through Sulaiman Mohammed Lakdawala (PW-365) and thereafter, it was changed fom hand to hand and this car was used to blast Bombay Stock Exchange building. This car was used by Tiger Memon and A-1 for explosion. This is evident from the evidence of PWs 87 and 630.
248) We have already noted that the confessions of A-10, A-11, A-46 and A- 97 are voluntary confessions and the same have been properly recorded by recording officers and the same being not liable to be discarded. Merely because confession of A-1 is not on record, i.e., the said accused having not made a confession, the same cannot be considered as a factor for terming other evidence led by the prosecution as a weak type of evidence.
249) The material portion in the confessions of A-10, A-11 and A-46 clearly reveal the relevant role of collecting money paid by the said accused at the behest of A-1. The oral and documentary evidence led in by the prosecution clearly prove that A-1 was not only associated with his brothers and other accused but had also participated in the conspiracy. Several co-accused, particularly, A-10, A-11, A-46 and A-97 in their confessional statements unequivocally referred to the role of A-1 and his participation in all aspects. The prosecution has also proved recoveries of incriminating articles like hand grenades etc., and also for the purchase of air tickets, getting passports and visas for the persons who went to Pakistan via Dubai for training in handling of arms and ammunitions. Apart from the categorical statement of co-accused, the prosecution has also examined the independent witnesses from the travel agencies and other authorities. Apart from this, there are ample evidence to show that he was incharge of all money transactions and monitoring the activities of all the persons concerned in the movement. The prosecution has also established that A-1 owns a blue Maruti Car which was used for carrying explosives and detonators one day before the blast took place on 12.03.1993. A-1 left for Dubai on 11.03.1993 with the Indian Passport and thereafter he entered Pakistan with Pakistani Passport. Though he was not one among the persons who carried arms and ammunitions used for the blast but it was he who stood behind them from starting till the end, viz., conspiracy, planning and making all the arrangements for sending certain persons to Pakistan for training in handling of arms and ammunitions. We are satisfied that the prosecution has established all the charges leveled against A-1 and the Desginated Court, after analysing all the materials including oral and documentary evidence and the independent witnesses, rightly convicted him.
250) A perusal of the above confessions by the co-conspirators would show that the appellant (A-1) was playing a key role in furtherance of the above said conspiracy. The above evidence along with further material relied on by the prosecution show that A-1 also played an active role in generation and management of funds for achieving the object behind the conspiracy and in all subsequent events.
Criminal Appeal Nos. 609-610 of 2008 Zakir Hussain Noor Mohd. Shaikh (A-32) Abdul Khan @ Yakub Khan Akhtar Khan (A-36) & Firoz @ Akram Amani Malik (A-39) ….. Appellant(s) vs. State of Maharashtra,
Through STF, CBI, Bombay ….. Respondent(s)
*********
251) Mr. Priyadarshi Manish, learned counsel appeared for the appellants (A-32, A-36 and A-39) and Mr. Gopal Subramanium, learned senior counsel, duly assisted by Mr. Mukul Gupta, learned senior counsel and Mr. Satyakam, learned counsel for the respondent.
252) The present appeals are directed against the final judgment and order of conviction and sentence dated 04.12.2006 and 24.07.2007 respectively whereby the appellants (A-32, A-36 and A-39) have been convicted and sentenced to death by the Designated Court under TADA for the Bombay Bomb Blast Case, Greater Bombay in B.B.C. No.1/1993.
FOR FULL JUDGEMENT, PLEASE CHECK THE LINKS BELOW:
93 Bomb Blast Case: Yakub Memon Death Sentence Appeal Supreme Court Judgement:
Part 001 / Part 002 / Part 003 / Part 004 / Part 005 / Part 006 / Part 007 / Part 008 / Part 009 / Part 010 / Part 011 / Part 012 / Part 013 / Part 014 / Part 015 / Part 016 / Part 017 / Part 018 / Part 019 / Part 020 / Part 021 / Part 022 / Part 023 / Part 024 / Part 025 / Part 026 / Part 027 / Part 028 / Part 029 / Part 030 / Part 031 / Part 032 / Part 033 / Part 034 / Part 035 / Part 036 / Part 037 / Part 038 / Part 039 / Part 040 / Part 041 / Part 042 / Part 043 / Part 044 / Part 045
++++
TAGS:
Supreme Court Of India, Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, Death Sentence, Confirmed, Sentence, Appeal, Dawood Ibrahim, Tiger Momon, 93 Bomb Blast, Mumbai Bomb Blast, Don, Gangster, Mafia, Sanjay Dutt, Death Penalty, Serial Blast, Mumbai, maharashtra, India, State Of Maharashtra, CBI, Prosecution, Babri Masjid, Ayodhya, demolition, violence, terrorist, Bombay, arms, ammunitions, conspiracy, Dubai, Pakistan, training, Bombay Stock Exchange, Katha Bazaar, Sena Bhavan, Century Bazaar, Mahim Causeway, Air India Building, Zaveri Bazaar, Hotel Sea Rock, Plaza Theatre, Juhu Centaur Hotel, AirPort Bay-54, AirPort Centaur Hotel, terrorist attack, terror, RDX, Research Department Explosive, Md. Ahmed Dosa, Md. Salim Mira Moiddin Shaikh @ Salim Kutta, Md. Kasam Lajpuria, Ranjitkumar Singh Baleshwar Prasad, Md. Sultan Sayyed, Dighi Jetty, Raigad, Uttan,
++++
