1993 Mumbai blasts convict Md.Tahir Merchant dies of heart attack

Mumbai: Mohamed Tahir Merchant, alias Tahir Takla, one of the convicts in March 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, who was sentenced to death, died of a heart attack, here on Wednesday morning.Merchant, who was lodged in Yerawada Central Jail, suffered a heart attack in prison at around 0300 hrs and was rushed to Sassoon Hospital.However, he failed to respond to treatment and breathed his last at around 0345 hrs, said Additional DGP (Prisions) BK Upadhyay.

On September 7, last year, he was awarded the death penalty for conspiring, facilitating and knowingly commissioning acts of terror, leading to the March 1993 serial bomb explosions, which rocked Mumbai.His lawyer Farhana Shah has confirmed it and said Merchant's plea challenging the death penalty against the designated order was under process in the Supreme Court and was in pending.Earlier, two another convicts Ejaz Pathan and Mohd Iqbal, who were awarded imprisonment in the same case, died in jail during the pendency of their appeal in the apex court.(UNI)