Tahir Merchant, death row convict in 1993 Mumbai blasts case, dies of heart attack in Pune's Yerwada jail

Pune: M Tahir Merchant, alias Tahir Takla, one of the convicts in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts who was sentenced to death, died of a heart attack on Wednesday, a police officer said.

Merchant, who was lodged in the Yerawada Central Jail in Pune, suffered a heart attack in the prison around 3 am and was rushed to Sassoon Hospital.

However, he failed to respond to the treatment and breathed his last around 3.45 am, said additional DGP (Prisons) BK Upadhyay.

On 7 September, 2017, he was awarded the death penalty for conspiring, facilitating and knowingly commissioning acts of terror leading to the March 1993 serial bomb explosions which rocked Mumbai. He is one of two convicts who were sentenced to death in the case.

According to a  Hindustan Times  report, Merchant was accused of motivating his associates to arrange men from Mumbai to be sent to Pakistan for arms training. He was also responsible for arranging transport and fake passports for Indians to attend arms training in Pakistan. He actively participated in the conspiracy meetings in Dubai and he also planned to set up an illegal arms factory in India.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had claimed that Merchant had good relations with Pakistan Army and the country’s intelligence agency ISI.

With inputs from agencies