Gulshan Kumar murder case: Bombay HC upholds conviction of Dawood aide Abdul Rauf
Music mogul Gulshan Kumar, the owner of T-Series, was shot dead while coming out of a temple at Jeet Nagar in Juhu on August 12, 1997.
The Bombay high court on Thursday dismissed an appeal filed by Abdul Rauf, an aide of gangster Dawood Ibrahim, challenging his conviction and life term handed to him for the murder of T-Series founder Gulshan Kumar. The court upheld Rauf's conviction and life sentence handed to him, and also convicted him murder and conspiracy in the case.
Taking due note of Abdul Rauf's criminal background and his continued criminal activities and the fact that he was absconding for a considerable period after the murder, the high court clarified that he will not be entitled to any remission in his prison term.
The high court, meanwhile, upheld acquittal of Gulshan Kumar's business rival, Ramesh Taurani.
Music mogul Gulshan Kumar, the owner of T-Series, was shot dead while coming out of a temple at Jeet Nagar in Juhu on August 12, 1997. Three assailants shot Kumar with 16 bullets, killing him on the spot. Underworld gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s aide, Abdul Rauf alias Dawood Merchant, was convicted in his murder and sentenced to life in prison in 2002.
Mumbai police had filed a 400-page charge sheet containing the names of 26 accused. Music composer Nadeem Akhtar Saifee was declared a co-conspirator in the case a few days after Kumar’s death. Ramesh Taurani, owner of Tips cassettes, was arrested for abetting his murder. Saifee has however remained in the United Kingdom since the murder.
Merchant while on parole in 2009, granted by the Bombay high court, fled India for Bangladesh. He was arrested in Bangladesh after he entered the country without any valid documents, and given a five-year prison term. After the completion of his first sentence he was arrested again in December 2014 over possible terror links. After this he was handed over to Indian authorities by the Bangladeshi government.