A day after prosecution sought death penalty for 1993 blasts convict Mustafa Dossa, he died in Mumbai due to cardiac arrest.
Dossa, who was lodged at the Arthur Road jail complained of chest pain and was admitted to JJ Hospital last night at 3.00 am. The dean of the hospital, Dr T.P. Lahane, said Dossa was admitted to the Critical Care Unit. "He had high grade fever and a history of high blood pressure and diabetes and was diagnosed with a chest infection," the dean said.
1993 Mumbai blasts case convict Mustafa Dossa. File
Sources told The Hindu , the body will be released to his family for burial after completing inquest and the postmortem procedure.
On May 16, the Special Terrorist And Disruptive Activities court convicted Dossa and five others in the case. In his order, Judge G.A. Sanap said those convicted wanted to take revenge for the Barbri Masjid demolition and the Bombay riots that followed thereafter. "They conspired to kill Hindus and Hindu leaders."
Mustafa Ahmed Umar Dossa alias Mustafa Majnu was extradited from UAE and acted to achieve the object of a conspiracy hatched in Dubai to take revenge for the demolition of the Babri Masjid, for which arms and ammunition were sent to India.
Special Public Prosecutor Deepak Salvi had told the court that Dossa was one of the brains behind the conspiracy and that his degree of responsibility towards the commission of the crime was the highest. If it was not for him and the absconding accused the crime would have never taken place, said Mr Salvi.
As many as 257 people were killed in the coordinated blasts that ripped through the city on March 12, 1993.
The court had acquitted another accused Abdul Quayyum of all charges.
The trial of Abu Salem, Mustafa Dossa, Karimullah Khan, Firoz Abdul Rashid Khan, Riyaz Siddiqui, Tahir Merchant and Abdul Quayyum was separated from the main case as they were arrested at the time of conclusion of the main trial.
