Police convicted for Mumbai bombs

Did it have to take so long? 1993 blasts in pictures

A court in the western Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay) has convicted five policemen for their role in the serial bomb attacks in the city in 1993.

The police were found guilty of aiding and abetting those who carried out the explosions in the city. They face life sentences for the offences.

Three other accused police officers were acquitted by the court.

They are among 123 defendants facing trial over 12 blasts that killed 257 people and injured more than 700.

The attacks were allegedly ordered by the Muslim-dominated underworld in retaliation for Hindu-Muslim riots.

The policemen - one inspector and four constables - face life imprisonment for allegedly letting the bombers bring in arms and ammunition into the country.

Hundreds of witnesses

The policemen were suspended from service and later expelled.

Verdicts are being announced in stages over the next few weeks and sentences are yet to be passed.

1993 MUMBAI BLASTS 12 blasts 257 dead 713 injured 123 arrested and tried 686 witnesses testify 35,000 pages of evidence submitted 13 years to reach verdict Profile: Fugitive gangster

The man thought to have masterminded the plot, underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, has still not been caught.

India says he and another key suspect, Tiger Memon, are hiding in Pakistan, a charge Pakistan has denied.

Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt is also among the accused.

Dutt was arrested 13 years ago on terrorism charges and spent nearly two years in jail before the Supreme Court ordered his release on bail.

There have been few trials in India's legal history to match this one.

Evidence has been taken from more than 600 witnesses.

The bombings are believed to have been carried out by one of the city's notorious underworld crime syndicates, which were then dominated by Muslims.

Their motive is said to have been revenge for religious riots that left more than 2,000 people dead across India, most of them Muslims.

Most of the accused have been languishing in jail for the past 13 years. Lawyers have criticised the length of the trial.

The case has taken so long that 12 of the accused have died and others have been imprisoned for so much longer than their likely sentence that a guilty verdict may still result in them walking free.