TIA NEWS
1993 Mumbai serial blasts case convict Mustafa Dossa died after suffering a cardiac arrest on Wednesday. He was admitted to the JJ Hospital in Mumbai after he complained of chest pain.
Hospital dean TP Lahane confirmed the news of Dossa’s death. Speaking to news agency, Dr. Lahane said that Dossa passed away at 2.30 pm. late last night.
Lahane added that Dossa was diagnosed with high fever and was taken to JJ hospital at 3 am where he was kept under observation. Dossa had earlier informed the special TADA court about his heart problem and said he wanted to undergo a bypass surgery.
The CBI had yesterday sought capital punishment for Dossa, arguing that his role in the blasts was “more severe” than that of hanged convict Yakub Memon. CBI lawyer argued that Dossa was one of the masterminds behind the conspiracy of the blasts and his degree of responsibility towards the commission of the crime was the highest.
The court, in the second leg of the trial in the serial blasts case, had on June 16 convicted five accused, including Dossa and extradited gangster Abu Salem, under the charges of murder, conspiracy and sections of now repealed TADA, while the sixth accused Riyaz Siddiqui was convicted only under TADA.
As many as 257 people were killed in the co-ordinated blasts that ripped through the city on March 12, 1993.