Court slaps Rs 2,000 fine on 1993 blasts accused Firoz Khan

Mumbai: The special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (prevention) Act (TADA) court on Wednesday imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on the 1993 blast accused Firoz Khan as his lawyer Wahab Khan refused to examine two witnesses for his defence.

The court observed that it was nothing but a tactic to delay the trial by the defence lawyer and therefore a fine should be imposed on the accused. The court has directed the Central Bureau of Investigaion to start arguments on quantum of sentence from Thursday.

Firoz Khan, who had cried and begged the court to not to impose a death penalty on him on Tuesday, had earlier moved an application to examine two witnesses from Taloja jail.

But on Wednesday, his lawyer moved an application, stating that he does not want to examine the two witnesses named Vikrant Deshmukh and Gautam Sore, both of who are inmates at Taloja with Firoz.

CBI lawyer Deepak Salvi raised an objection on the application and told the court that Taloja jail authorities have worked hard to present these two witnesses in court and that an appropriate cost must be imposed for the conduct of the accused.

The defence lawyer pleaded that his client was already in debt and therefore not in a position to pay the cost. TADA judge G.A. Sanap told Advocate Wahab, “If you had informed me yesterday, I would have directed CBI counsel to be ready on arguments. You have wasted the court's time. ready on arguments. You have wasted the court's time. ready on arguments. You have wasted the court's time.