Mumbai, July 07: A special court today recorded the plea of 116 bomb blast accused, including film actor Sanjay Dutt, on alteration of charges of conspiracy framed against them in the 1993 bomb blast case. All the accused pleaded not guilty to the modified charges.

In response to summons issued by the court, 82 accused on bail, including Sanjay, today appeared before designated judge P D Kode to submit their plea on alteration of the charges to include the name of accused Majnu Mustaffa in the conspiracy.
Thirty-four accused in custody were also produced before the court.

The plea of all the accused was recorded to amend the common charge of conspiracy in view of the court deciding to conduct separate trial of co-accused Majnu Mustaffa who was deported from Dubai recently.
Majnu was not shown in the list of accused or absconding accused. After his deportation, he was arrested in this case by CBI which alleged that his involvement figured in the confession of co-accused Salim Mira Shaikh.

The judge separated his trial but allowed CBI to use the evidence adduced against him.
The judge opined that the accused may have allegedly participated in the conspiracy in 1993 but his identity was not disclosed and came to be known for the first time in 1995 when co-accused Salim was arrested.

In a related development, Sanjay and other accused on bail were exempted from appearance till July 21.

Bureau Report