1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict dies in Nagpur GMCH

Nagpur: Abdul Gani Ismail Turk, 68, a convict in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, was on Thursday declared dead at the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) in Nagpur. He was lodged in Nagpur Central jail where he was shifted from Yerawada jail in Pune in November 2014. He was earlier facing death sentence which had been reduced to lifer by the Supreme Court.
Nagpur Central jail authorities said that Turk was ailing since November last year. He had also suffered a paralytic attack following which he was kept under medical observation. On April 22, he had to be rushed to GMCH but was later discharged.
On Thursday, Turk fell unconscious at the prison hospital, where he was already admitted, while talking to the fellow inmates. The jail authorities rushed him to GMCH where he was declared dead an hour later.
Turk was one of the key planters in the March 12, 1993, serial bomb blasts. He had driven an RDX-stacked jeep to Century Bazar, parked it near the Regional Passport Office, and then walked away. The explosion that followed was the deadliest of all the 12 that wracked Mumbai that day. It killed 113 persons and injured 227.
The blasts had left 257 people dead and over 700 maimed for life.
Jail SP Rani Bhosale said the post-mortem on Turk would he performed after his relatives arrive here from Mumbai. “The local police station (Dhantoli), other authorities concerned and his relatives have been informed,” she said. The post-mortem would be performed in the presence of magistrate and will also be videographed.
Dhantoli police are in the process of registering accidental death in the case.
Turk was accused number 11 in the case. He was convicted under Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (prevention) Act (TADA) along with offences under other Acts, including Explosive Substances Act, on September 19, 2006. He was also found guilty of participating in landing of RDX and arms and ammunition at Shekhadi port near Raigad and of transporting the cache to Mumbai.
He was also convicted for participating and attending meetings at the residence of co-accused Babloo alias Nasir Anwar Shaikh and Mubina Baya Moosa Bhiwandiwala to plan the blasts. He had also been held guilty of filling the RDX and fitting detonators in motor vehicles which were then used as bombs at various pre-planned locations in Mumbai on March 12, 1993.