1993 Mumbai Riots Accused, Absconding For Over 3 Decades, Arrested

Sayyad Nadir Shah Abbas Khan, wanted for 31 years in connection with the 1993 Mumbai riots, was arrested on Monday

The man was arrested at the time but obtained bail later

A man, absconding for 31 years, has been arrested for his alleged involvement in the 1993 Mumbai riots. Sixty-five-year-old Sayyad Nadir Shah Abbas Khan was nabbed in Mumbai's Sewri area by a team of Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Marg police station on Monday, an official said. 

According to police, Khan was named as an accused in a case of attempt to murder and unlawful assembly during the riots in the city that followed the demolition of the Babri masjid in December 1992.

He was arrested at the time but obtained bail later. He never attended the court after that. Police visited his residence in Sewri in central Mumbai many times but he remained untraceable, the official said.

The court then declared Khan as a wanted accused and issued a non-bailable warrant against him. The sleuths finally got a lead about his whereabouts by examining the mobile phone records of his relatives.

On June 29, officials of Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Marg police station got information that Khan was going to visit his residence, following which a trap was laid and he was arrested. Khan has been re-arrested in the 1993 case and further probe was on, the official said.

During the turbulent period of December 1992 and January 1993, Mumbai was engulfed in communal tensions and riots, resulting in approximately 900 deaths and 168 persons missing.

On March 12, 1993, a series of 13 blasts rocked various parts of the city, claiming 257 lives. In an unrelated incident, in June, the Maharashtra government, over three decades after riots, appealed to the legal heirs of 105 people who were either killed or went missing to approach authorities for claiming ex-gratia or delayed compensation within a month.

On June 19, the state government published a list of 105 deceased persons whose legal relatives remained untraceable despite several efforts by the authorities to find them for granting ex-gratia payments or delayed compensation sums.