Death sentences for 1993 Mumbai bombers

An Indian judge today imposed the first death sentences on three men convicted of planting a series of bombs that ripped through Mumbai in 1993, killing 257 people in India’s deadliest attack.

Justice Pramod Kode handed the sentences to Parvez Shaikh, Mushtaq Tarani and Abdul Ghani Turk.

All three were convicted of planting explosives-laden suitcases and scooters in Mumbai on March 12, 1993.

More than 100 people were convicted of involvement in the plot, thought to be an act of revenge for the demolition of a 16th century mosque by Hindu nationalists in northern India in 1992.

After the demolition, religious riots erupted, leaving more than 800 dead, most of them Muslims.