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Death sentence for 2003 Mumbai bombers
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-08-06 16:41

NEW DELHI: A special Indian court Thursday gave death sentence to a husband-wife team and their aide for staging the 2003 twin blasts in India's financial capital Mumbai which killed 54 people and injured 244.

Death sentence for 2003 Mumbai bombers
Mohammad Hanif (C), convicted for plotting two coordinated Mumbai blasts in August 2003, sits in a police van on his way to the court in Mumbai August 6, 2009. [Agencies]

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Hanif Syed, his wife, Fehmida, and third conspirator Ashrat Ansari were convicted for planting the bombs on August 25, 2003 at the Gateway of India near Taj Mahal hotel and the Zaveri Bazaar in downtown Mumbai, said Ujjal Nikam, the special prosecutor in charge of terrorism.

The couple were found guilty of planting the bomb at Gateway of India, while Ansari delivered the bomb at Zaveri Bazaar, a bustling marketplace.      

Calling it "rarest of rare" case, Nikam said the convicted terrorists wanted to stage big blasts and were not happy with smaller blasts that resulted in low death tolls.

In an earlier statement last week, Nikam said this is a major blow for the LeT (Lashkar-e-Toiba), a Pakistan-based Kashmiri militant group, and it is the first time in India that a family has been found guilty of carrying out terrorist operations.