Mumbai, Sep 13 (IANS) A special court Wednesday adjourned till Thursday pronouncement of the quantum of punishment to the four members of the Memon family held guilty for the 1993 Mumbai blasts as well as the verdict for the next eight on the list of 123 accused.

Judge P.D. Kode, who Tuesday began the process of delivering the verdict in batches of eight, will spend the first half of the day Thursday reading out the judgment of accused nine to 18 in the list.

The second half would be devoted to pronouncing the quantum of punishment to the four Memons -- brothers Yusuf, Essa and Yakub and their sister-in-law Rabina.

The court deferred the hearing by a day as the Memons Wednesday decided to replace their high-profile lawyer Majjid Memon with Harshad Ponda.

Public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam urged the court that the arguments on the quantum of punishment of the four convicted Memons be held after the verdict of those who allegedly planted bombs in 13 different places in Mumbai on March 12, 1993 was announced.

Brother Tiger Memon, suspected to be one of the brains behind the March 12, 1993 blasts along with mob boss Dawood Ibrahim, is absconding. He has been charged with masterminding the conspiracy, bomb making, landing of explosives and funding the serial blasts.

Underworld don Dawood, who is the alleged mastermind behind the blasts, is widely believed to be in the Pakistani port city of Karachi.

The Memons could face between five years in prison and a life term.

The other three members - the fifth brother Suleiman, mother Hanifa and Yakub's wife Rahin - who were acquitted after the court gave them the benefit of doubt.

The 13 devastating blasts spread over 130 minutes killed 257 people and injured about 700. It was not only India's worst terror attack but also led to the country's longest criminal trial against terrorists - it began June 30, 1995 and ended Sep 19, 2003.