NDTV

Mumbai, Sep 22: For the first time, underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's role in the 1993 blasts case has been established by the judiciary.

Dawood Mohammad Phanse alias Dawood Taklya, who is one of the few accused to have directly named the don, has been found guilty by the TADA court in Mumbai.

He has been found guilty on the charge that he met Dawood Ibrahim in Dubai and was told by him to help in the landing of arms and ammunition in India, which establishes Dawood Ibrahim's role.

He has also been found to be guilty of being the main landing agent for arms, explosives and RDX.

However, the third charge against him that he had reportedly bribed several customs officials has not come up in the court.

Phanse's confession

In his confession, Phanse said that he was involved in the landing of smuggled silver and other goods.

He also said that he went to Dubai and met Dawood Ibrahim and that the don talked about revenge, asked him to help in the landing of arms and ammunition.

According to his confession, Dawood sent him back to the hotel in a Mercedes car and all of them received Rs 15 lakh for the landing, while more than Rs 12 lakh were given in bribes.

Also, accused number 17, Sharif Abdul Gafoor Parker, has been found guilty.

He has been found guilty on the charge of meeting custom officers for smuggling of arms, explosives and RDX.

Moreover, he has been charged with bribing custom officers for the landing along with Dawood Taklya. However, this has not been established as yet.

On the charge that he organised and participated in weapons training conducted by Tiger Memon at Sandheri and Borghat, he has been found guilty of organising but not of participating in the training.