Gulshan Kumar murder case: Abdul Rashid Dawood Merchant surrenders to serve life term

A week after the Bombay high court (HC) convicted Mumbra resident Abdul Rashid Dawood Merchant in connection with the murder of T-Series founder and film producer Gulshan Kumar, he surrendered before the sessions court on Wednesday to serve the life sentence

A week after the Bombay high court (HC) convicted Mumbra resident Abdul Rashid Dawood Merchant in connection with the murder of T-Series founder and film producer Gulshan Kumar, he surrendered before the sessions court on Wednesday to serve the life sentence.

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Merchant on Wednesday appeared before the sessions court through his lawyer Ganesh Iyer and surrendered for serving the life term, following which the court took him in the custody and sent him to Arthur Road prison. He would subsequently be shifted to some other central prison.

The HC had, on July 1, reversed Merchant’s acquittal and sentenced him to life imprisonment for charges of conspiracy and murder. The bench had directed him to surrender either before the trial court or before DN Nagar police station where the first information report (FIR) was registered in connection with the murder.

Accordingly, in his plea, he claimed he came to know about the verdict and appeared before the court to surrender.

Kumar was killed by three assailants who shot 16 bullets, killing him on the spot, on August 19, 1997. A total of 19 persons were arrested in connection with the murder. On April 29, 2002, Mumbai sessions court acquitted all except Merchant and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Merchant, who was absconding after the murder, was first arrested in 2001. In March 2009, he jumped parole and went to Bangladesh. He was then arrested from there at the behest of Indian authorities and was brought back in November 2016.