Guilty for '93 blasts, stricken by AIDS

Mumbai: "I am struggling everyday with life and death after my wife and son deserted me due to diagnosis of AIDS," said Imtiaz Ghawte, who has been convicted for his role in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case.

Pleading leniency in punishment, Ghawte told the designated TADA court judge P D Kode that he was trapped into the conspiracy by co-accused soon after he got married in 1992.

Ghawte said he had become a victim of AIDS in 2005 after spending 12 years and nine months in custody.

Another convict Mulchand Shah said he was sick and had spent three years and nine months in custody.

He said he had suffered a heart attack in 2002 and undergone angioplasty. His wife too was not well and he had to look after his brother, a handicap.

Urging for lesser punishment, Shah said he was the eldest in the family and had to look after other members. On November 16, the court had convicted Ghawte and Shah guilty of aiding and abetting terrorist acts.

The court held Shah guilty of helping prime accused Tiger Memon to operate hawala account in code name ‘Hathi', thereby facilitating the serial blasts here on March 12, 1993, that killed 257 people.

Ghawte was found guilty of parking the RDX-laden scooter at Dhanji street in south Mumbai, which did not explode on the ill-fated day.

Ghawte was also found guilty of conspiracy charges under section 120 B of IPC and Section 3(3) of TADA (P) act for participating in landing operations of arms at Shekhadi coast in Raigad district of Maharashtra prior to the blasts.