A sessions court here on Saturday remanded Tahir Merchant, an accused in the 1993 serial bomb blasts case, to judicial custody till July 1.
Tahir, alleged to be a close aide of Tiger Memon - prime accused in the case and is currently absconding, was arrested on June 8, by CBI after he was deported from Abu Dhabi.
Tahir, who was declared a proclaimed offender by a special TADA court in October 1993, has been accused of arranging for his co-accused to be sent to Pakistan via Dubai to undergo arms training.
According to CBI, Tahir had also attended meetings in Dubai, where the 1993 Mumbai blast conspiracy was hatched by Memon and fugitive Don Dawood Ibrahim.
Tahir, who was in CBI custody till today, was produced before a session’s court which sent him to judicial custody till July 1 after the CBI did not seek his further custody.
According to CBI, Tahir along with other convicted accused in the serial blast case had planned to set up an arms manufacturing factory in India.
In 2007, special TADA Judge Pramod Kode had convicted 100 accused including actor Sanjay Dutt in connection with the blasts. Most of them appealed in the Supreme Court, which is yet to hear them.
Thirteen blasts had rocked Mumbai on March 12, 1993, killing 257 people and injuring 713 others.