Family members of Riyaz Siddiqui, awarded ten-year imprisonment in the 1993 serial blasts case, were expecting his release as he had already spent in jail the period prescribed by the court in today's verdict. However, their wait may get longer as Siddiqui is a convict in an old murder case.
"We were expecting that he (Riyaz) will get sentence like Sanjay Dutt (who as a 1993 blasts convict had spent 42 months, a remainder of his five year sentence, in jail before walking out as a free man) as Riyaz's role was similar to the Bollywood actor, but the court has been given him ten-year imprisonment," said Siddiqui's son Ahad.
He said his father had already been in jail for more than ten years.
"We were expecting that he would walk out of the jail. However, as the court verdict is awaited against my father in a murder case, it's like the wait and watch situating for us," he said.
Siddiqui was last month convicted by a special court for the 1995 murder of city-based builder Pradeep Jain.
Meanwhile, wife of Firoz Abdul Rashid Khan, who was sentenced to death along with another convict Tahir Merchant in the blasts case, said they will approach Supreme Court.
"Whatever had to happen has happened and it cannot be taken back now. The judge has announced the sentence. However, there is a bigger court..We will move Supreme Court," she said.
Merchant's relatives said, "He was just a servant and was following orders of his masters (as far as the execution of the blasts is concerned). He didn't know what transpired in the (conspiracy) meetings..So we were not expecting harsh punishment".
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