Mumbai, Dec 01: In keeping with a judicial order, 86 accused, including film actor Sanjay Dutt, will appear today before a special court which is gearing up to deliver its verdict ten years after a series of explosions rocked Mumbai in 1993 killing 256 people and injuring 713.
On a plea made by defence lawyer Farhana Shah, the court had earlier exempted them from appearance but asked them to appear on December 1 failing which their bail would be cancelled.

Meanwhile, a ray of hope has emerged among the accused for an early verdict as prime accused Abu Salem would not be immediately available to CBI for trial in the bomb blast case in the wake of a Portugal court sentencing him to four and a half years jail for illegally staying in that country.

Dutt is facing the charge of possessing an AK-56 rifle and destroying the weapon. CBI has alleged that Abu Salem had gone to Dutt's residence along with other accused to deliver weapon.
However, Dutt denied the charges and witnesses also did not support the prosecution's case.

CBI examined 686 witnesses in connection with the case and the evidence has crossed 13,000 pages. The accused are charged with carrying out serial blasts on March 12, 1993 which damaged property worth Rs 27 crore. Bureau Report