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Tribune News Service
Mumbai, February 11
Mohammad Hanif Syed, who was on death row for setting off two bombs in Mumbai in 2003 which claimed 52 lives and injured 244 others, died late Saturday night, according to Maharashtra Home Department officials.
They said Syed, who was lodged at Nagpur Central Jail, complained of chest pain on Saturday evening after which he was shifted to the Government Medical College where his condition worsened and he died late in the night. Officials suspected that he may have suffered a heart attack and his body would be handed over to his family after the completion of due formalities.
Syed, his wife Fehmida and a third conspirator Ashrat Ansari were found guilty of planting bombs in two taxis which exploded at the Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar in South Mumbai on August 25, 2003. Investigators established that Ansari had indoctrinated Syed during his stint as an electrician in Saudi Arabia. The two had come into contact with Pakistani jihadis in Saudi Arabia from whom they learnt to assemble bombs.
The chargesheet against the trio revealed that Syed, Fehmida and their daughters Farheen (then 16) and Shakira (then four) had boarded the taxis and left behind one bag in each of the vehicles before disembarking. Farheen was later acquitted in the matter since she was a minor. Syed, Fehmida and Ansari were sentenced to death in the twin bomb blasts cases. Investigators had then said that it was the first time that jihadi groups such as the Lashkar-e-Toiba had recruited an entire family to carry out attacks.
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