1993 Mumbai blasts: Accused sent to 10-day police custody in RDX landing case

A special court for Terrorism and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) cases on Friday remanded Ishtiyak Ahmed Ansari, arrested in the Gosabara RDX and arms landing case of 1993, to ten-day police custody.

A huge cache of RDX and arms had landed at the coastal village of Gosabara in Porbandar district in 1993. Fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim -- a key accused in the Mumbai serial blasts case -- is suspected to have arranged this landing.

Judge DY Malik sent Ansari to the custody of Jamnagar police for ten days, though the investigating officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police Rushikesh Upadhyay, had sought a 30- day remand.

The remand application said police needed to question Ansari as to which terror outfit was involved. Also, Ansari hadn't yet revealed names of other persons involved in the conspiracy and whether the RDX and the arms were to be used in a particular terror act, it said.

Ansari opposed the remand plea saying that the alleged landing had taken place 22 years ago and he had nothing to tell the police.

ATS officials arrested Ansari on August 18 from his native village Kiratpur in Bijnor district of Uttar Pradesh. According to the police, Dawood sent the consignment from Karachi to avenge the Babri Masjid demolition. Police later recovered five AK-47 rifles, one AK-56 rifle, 43 hand-grenades and 3,011 cartridges. ATS had found an AK-47 rifle and 90 cartridges in Ansari's house in Jamnagar district during a search in 1994.