CONDEMNED: Ashraf Ansari is brought to court by police in Mumbai on Thursday. (EPA)

MUMBAI: A special court on Thursday sentenced three people to death for their involvement in twin bomb blasts in Mumbai’s at Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazar in 2003 that killed 54 people and injured over 250.

The special anti-terrorism court of M.R. Puranik had earlier convicted Hanif Syed, his wife Fahmida and accomplice Ashraf Ansari of their involvement in the bomb blasts on Aug. 25, 2003.

During sentencing hearing on Tuesday, special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam had demanded the death penalty for the convicts. At the hearing Hanif and his wife Fahmida pleaded for leniency, while Ashraf pleaded not guilty, even though the court found him guilty as charged.

The court held all the three guilty based on the accounts of eyewitnesses and the evidence produced against them. The court said that the accused were guilty of hatching conspiracy, indulging in anti-national activities, violating several provisions of the Explosives Act and the killings and injuries to hundreds of people.

Speaking to reporters outside the court after the sentencing, Nikam said: “We are happy that all three got the death penalty. It is a message to people who indulge in terrorism that the law will not spare them if they commit such barbarous acts.”

Nikam said that Zaveri Bazaar in south Mumbai was chosen since the trio wanted to target a nearby Hindu temple. The historic Gateway of India was also chosen since they wanted to target foreigners staying in nearby Hotel Taj and visiting the tourist site.

Three others were arrested in connection with the attacks but were released without charge.

Investigators believe the bombings were revenge for religious riots in the western state of Gujarat in 2002. About 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, were killed when Hindu mobs rampaged through Muslim neighborhoods, towns and villages in the state in 2002. The riots were triggered by a fire that killed 60 people on a train packed with Hindus. Hindu extremists blamed the deaths on Muslims, but the cause of the blaze remains unclear.

Investigators had said all three were members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a banned Pakistan-based militant group formed in the 1980s. Indian investigators also blamed Lashkar-e-Taiba for attacks last year in Mumbai in which gunmen killed 166 people in a three-day rampage.

Pakistan said Thursday that evidence supplied by India failed to strengthen a case for the arrest of Hafiz Saeed, founder of Lashkar.

India, which handed over a fresh dossier last Saturday, has insisted that Pakistan has enough evidence to successfully prosecute leaders of Lashkar-e-Taiba, including Saeed.

Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said Pakistan was proceeding with the case but the information provided by India had not helped.

— With input from agencies