Thursday, August 10 2006 12:39 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The 1993 serial bomb blasts case has finally come to an end with a TADA court all set to start dictation of its verdict from today in the presence of all the 123 accused, including actor Sanjay Dutt.

Ninety-four accused on bail and 29 in custody have been summoned to the court by designated Judge P D Kode who would start dictating the verdict 13 years after the blasts rocked the city killing 257 persons and injuring 713.

The court may take more than a fortnight to deliver the entire verdict considering the testimony of 686 witnesses in over 13,000 pages of evidence tendered by them -- a record of sorts in Indian legal history.

The security in and around the court has been tightened since yesterday and police has imposed section 144 CrPC in and around the court premises banning the assembly of five or more persons.

Altogether 198 accused were roped in the case by CBI in 1993 soon after the blasts. Of these, 29 were discharged due to lack of evidence and 29 others, including prime accused Dawood Ibrahim, Tiger Memon and Mohammed Dossa, were shown as absconding.

Of the remaining 140 accused, 11 died during the trial while two others, Abu Asim Azmi and Amjad Mehr Baksh were discharged by Supreme Court. Another accused, Riaz Khatri jumped bail on September 23, 1996 and is absconding.

The trial of three more accused, Abu Salem, Riaz Siddiqui and Mustaffa Dossa has been separated leaving 123 accused to face the trial in the main case, according to special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.