1993 Mumbai blasts: Zebunisa Kasi, Sharif Parkar surrender to TADA court

Sharif Dada Parkar and Zaibunissa Kazi, whose convictions in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case have been upheld by the Supreme Court, today surrendered before the special Tada court here. Parkar, who is over 80, was brought to the court on a stretcher from a hospital in Byculla, while 75-year-old Zaibunissa, suffering from cancer, came on a wheel-chair. [caption id=“attachment_799319” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] PTI[/caption] They were slated to surrender on 17 May, but failed to give themselves up because of ill-health. While Parkar had been admitted to hospital last Thursday for chest pain, Zaibunissa had been advised to undergo certain medical tests. Today, when Judge GA Sanap saw Parkar on the stretcher, he suggested that he may be taken outside awhile to breathe some fresh air. The judge then asked the court staff and police to take both into custody and send them to jail to serve the remainders of their sentences. Fellow convict, actor Sanjay Dutt, for whom May 16 deadline had been set by Supreme Court, has already surrendered. Earlier, Parkar and Kazi had sought more time to urrender citing medical grounds, but the TADA court rejected their applications, saying that it could not tinker with the Supreme Court-set deadline. On 17 May, the Tada court also issued non-bailable warrants against the two, but they were not executed. Parkar was convicted by the Tada court for his role in organising the landing of arms and RDX in Raigad district prior to the March 1993 serial blasts, and in arranging a conspiracy meeting. Kazi was convicted for allowing a co-accused to keep some weapons, a part of the cache that arrived prior to blasts, at her house for a brief while PTI