TADA court sentences 12 persons in 1993 arms landing case linked to Dawood Ibrahim

Jamnagar: A special TADA court in Jamnagar on Monday convicted 12 persons in a case related to the conspiracy of 1993 arms landing off the Gujarat coast linked to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim to help avenge the Babri Masjid demolition, and acquitted 17 other accused.

Special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act Judge RP Mogera convicted 12 accused, and sentenced 10 of them to five-year rigorous imprisonment, and two to seven-year RI, special public prosecutor Tushar Gokani said.

The case pertains to a conspiracy hatched by Ibrahim, later designated as an international terrorist, and his associates based in Dubai and Pakistan to avenge the December 6, 1992, demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya by smuggling a huge cache of weapons and explosives, including RDX, into India by sea.

An FIR was registered at the Jamnagar B-division police station in July 1993, and the verdict comes nearly 33 years after an investigation that lasted for several decades, with the probe carried out by now retired IPS officers P K Jha and Satish Verma, and current CBI Special Director Manoj Shashidhar, Gokani said.

The accused, including Dawood Ibrahim, were booked under various sections of the TADA Act, the Indian Penal Code, the Arms Act, and the Explosives Substances Act.

The investigation of the case went on from 1993 till 2018, with a total 46 accused arrested and 15 others including Dawood Ibrahim, Tiger Memon and Anees Ibrahim declared as absconders.

The trial began in 2018, and seven different chargesheets were filed against 46 accused.

While 11 accused died during the trial and six acquitted by the Supreme Court, 12 out of remaining 29 were convicted and 17 others acquitted by the special TADA court at Jamnagar on Monday, he said.

The prosecution succeeded in proving all the facts regarding how the conspiracy was hatched at Dawood Ibrahimâs residence in Dubai and how it was executed with the help of Pakistan, Gokani said.

During the evidence, it also came to light that officers of Pakistanâs Marine Security as well as military officers were also involved in the conspiracy to transport the weapons, he said.

To smuggle the consignment into India by sea, the accused from Bedi village in Jamnagar and Salaya-Mandvi in Kutch were recruited by the conspirators.

A launch named 'Sada Al Bahar' was taken to a sea point near Karachi, where it received weapons from a vessel linked to Pakistanâs Marine Security Agency, including explosives, RDX, around 150 weapons, hand grenade, bombs and rifle, Gokani said.

The launch stayed in mid sea for around 48 hours when two more launches, 'Bismillah' and 'Maarvan' approached, and half of the weapons were transferred to 'Bismillah,' which then went towards Maharashtra, while 'Sada Al bahar' went towards Porbandar coast in Gujarat.

After getting clearance through satellite phone, the lunch landed at Gosabara village where the weapons and explosives were disembarked, and trucks used to transport them towards Surat, Valsad in Gujarat and other destinations in Uttar Pradesh.

'Sada Al bahar,' meanwhile, left for Dubai. Those from Jamnagar and Kutch (Mandvi) were directed to hide. However, the truth regarding the entire conspiracy came to light following their arrest.

During the probe that lated 25 years, police recovered several hand grenades, AK-series riles, their cartridges, among others from different accused persons. A total 63 witnesses were examined during the course of trial.