Three LeT members, including couple sentenced to death

After six long years, three Lashkar-e-Taiba members, including a couple, were sentenced to death by a POTA court for the twin blasts at the Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar in Mumbai, which killed 52 persons.

Mohammed Hanif Sayeed, his wife Fahmida (43) and Ashrat Ansari (32) were the three who were sentenced for the gruesome act. Pronouncing the judgment, judge Puranik observed that it had been proved beyond reasonable doubt they had committed heinous acts resulting in numerous deaths.

The convicts had planted a bomb in a bus at Ghatkopar, which exploped at Andheri bus depot on July 28, 2003. They had also planted an explosive at the Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazar on August 25 the same year.

It has been said that the motive behind the blasts was to seek vengeance for the atrocities meted against the minority community during the Godhra carnage in Gujarat in 2002.