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Gulshan Kumar trial adjourned to Jan 25

A sessions court Friday adjourned the Gulshan Kumar murder trial to January 25 as prosecution sought time to open its case in view of the recent arrest of the killer of the audio king.

Additional Sessions Judge M L Tahilyani considered the plea of public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam for adjournment of the trial on the ground that interrogation of prime accused Abdul Rauf Daud Merchant was likely to reveal vital information that may have bearing on the case.

The defence lawyers, including Majeed Memon, Adik Shirodkar, Satish Maneshinde and Abbas Kazmi, initially objected to the prosecution's delay in conducting the trial but later consented to adjournment of the case.

The public prosecutor informed the court that a Bombay police team would leave for Calcutta on January 15 to bring Abdul Rauf to stand trial in the case.

Abdul, a hitman of Chota Shakeel faction of Dawood Ibrahim gang, was arrested on January 8 from a hotel in Calcutta.

All the 20-odd accused, including six on bail, were present before the court.

The audio king was gunned down on August 12, 1997, in a Bombay suburb. The prosecution alleged that he was eliminated due to business rivalry and music composer Nadeem Akhtar Saifee had received the contract money from co-accused and managing director of Tips cassettes Ltd, Ramesh Taurani.

Both of them have denied their involvement. Nadeem, who was in London on a holiday with his family when Gulshan Kumar was shot dead, did not return for fear of prosecution.

The Government of India filed extradition proceedings before a Bow Street magistrate in London who ruled that there was a prima facie case against Nadeem.

Harping on the approver's 'suspicious' evidence, Nadeem filed an appeal in a London high court which recently discharged him from extradition proceedings. The government has now filed an appeal in the House of Lords.

The case took a significant turn when Mohammed Ali Shaikh, accused-turned-approver, filed a petition in a sessions court in Bombay seeking withdrawal of the pardon granted to him by a magistrate.

He alleged torture by police and accused the cops of threatening to harass his family if he did not become an approver. The police denied the charge.

The sessions court rejected his plea on the ground that pardon once given could not be withdrawn. The approver then moved the high court which upheld the lower court's order.

The approver also wrote a letter from jail alleging that he had been forced to become an approver by the police who had paid him Rs 5,000 on three occasions and promised to buy him a house and a taxi.

However, they backed out of their promise to release him. This letter had been converted suo motu into petition by the high court which has yet to hear the matter.

The approver's letter in Hindi seeking pardon became a bone of contention in the London court with Nadeem claiming that Shaikh was illiterate and could not read or write Hindi.

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