Convicted of conspiracy, murder and terror charges in the Mumbai 1993 bomb blasts, Mustafa Dossa on Wednesday died of heart attack at the JJ Hospital where he was admitted after he complained of chest pain. Hospital dean T P Lahane confirmed that Dossa died at 2.30 pm due to cardiac arrest.
Dossa was admitted after he complained of chest pain and had uncontrolled hypertension, diabetes and infection, Lahane said.
Dossa had informed the special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (TADA) court about his heart problem and said that he wanted to undergo a bypass surgery. Dossa (60), who was convicted along with five others in second leg of the trial in the 1993 serial blasts case, was admitted to the jail ward of the hospital around 3 AM today.
Dossa was awaiting the verdict of the Special Court on the quantum of punishment in the case. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had yesterday sought capital punishment for all convicts, including Dossa, arguing that their role in the blasts was parallel to that of hanged convict Yakub Memon.
The CBI said Dossa was one of the "brains" behind the conspiracy and that his degree of responsibility towards the commission of the crime was the highest.
The court had on June 16 convicted five accused, including Dossa and extradited gangster Abu Salem, under the charges of murder, conspiracy and sections of now repealed TADA, while the sixth accused Riyaz Siddiqui was convicted only under TADA Act.
As many as 257 people were killed in the co-ordinated blasts that ripped through the city on March 12, 1993. The court had acquitted another accused Abdul Quayyum of all charges.
The trial of the seven accused -- 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.
