Mumbai, Dec 12 (IANS): The Bombay High Court Monday deferred its verdict on the confirmation of death sentences for three convicts in the 2003 Mumbai twin blasts that killed 52 people, a lawyer said.

"The final judgment will now be delivered either before the Christmas vacation or in the first week of January 2012," S. Kunjuraman, lawyer for one of the accused convicted by the lower court, told IANS.

The division bench of Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice P.D. Kode was hearing the matter related to the confirmation of death sentences awarded to Mohammed Hanif Syed, 46, and his wife Fahmida, 43, and their associate Ashrath Shafique Ansari, 35, for their role in the 2003 twin blasts which killed 52 and injured 244, the lawyer said.

The three convicts were awarded death sentences in January 2009 by a special court here for the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) cases.

A total of 52 people were killed Aug 25, 2003, when a powerful bomb went off near Gateway of India, a prime tourist landmark, and another at Zaveri Bazar, the hub of the gold and jewellery trade, barely four km apart. The injured were mainly tourists.