Underworld Family Guilty of 1993 Mumbai Bombings

Four members of a notorious crime family were yesterday found guilty of involvement in India's worst terrorist atrocity, the 1993 Mumbai bombings that left 257 people dead. The convictions are the first in India's longest ever trial.

The bombings were widely seen as an act of Islamist terrorism. But among the defendants are the Memon crime family in Mumbai who, the prosecution claims, wanted revenge for the razing of the Babri mosque a year earlier and losing homes and property during violent anti-Muslim riots. With the court sitting within a high-security prison, Judge Pramod Kode yesterday delivered the verdicts before dozens of defendants, including Sanjay Dutt, a Bollywood star, who is accused of buying weapons from the fellow accused.

In 1993, the bombings represented the world's worst terrorist attack, with 13 explosions over a three-hour period, starting at the city's stock exchange. The powerful explosives had been packed into cars and scooters, under a manhole cover and in a hotel room.

Ibrahim "Tiger" Memon, the Mumbai gang boss thought to have masterminded the attack, remains at large. But his younger brother, Yakub, an accountant who has spent more than a decade behind bars awaiting trial, yesterday became the first to be convicted of aiding or abetting acts of terror.

Also found guilty were Tiger's brothers, Essa and Yusuf, and one of their wives, Rubeena. She has been released on bail awaiting sentencing for helping the bombers. The father, co-accused Abdul Razak Memon, died before the trial had concluded. A total of 123 men and women were accused of involvement in the bombings. They will receive their verdicts in daily batches which could take up to two months. Sentencing will follow delivery of all the verdicts. The next five verdicts could involve the death penalty.

Tiger's mother, Hanifa, brother Suleman, and Yakub's wife, Rahin, were all acquitted, although Judge Kode said they were not entirely innocent.

In an expletive-laden outburst, Yakub claimed that "innocent people had been made into terrorists". The court granted Rubeena bail.

Also at large is India's most-wanted fugitive, Dawood Ibrahim, who grew up with Tiger Memon in poor Muslim districts. The duo accrued fortunes from smuggling, by settling scores between businessmen and funding Bollywood movies, often having the final say on set.

Yesterday's convictions come as Mumbai, India's financial capital, once again grappled with growing tensions between Hindus and Muslims following last week's bombing of a mosque in Malegaon, north-east of Mumbai, which left 35 dead. In July a series of bombings on the city's rail network claimed more than 180 lives. No one has been charged for either attack.

The current trial has heard testimony from 686 witnesses. It began in June 1995.