Meet Ujjwal Nikam, BJP Lok Sabha candidate who cooked up 'biryani' story to nail Ajmal Kasab

BJP fielded former special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam as its Lok Sabha candidate from the Mumbai North Central seat, dropping sitting MP Poonam Mahajan.

Updated on: Apr 27, 2024, 18:49:31 IST

By HT News Desk

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday fielded former special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam as its Lok Sabha candidate from the Mumbai North Central seat. He will be contesting against Congress' Varsha Gaikwad.

Special prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam gestures as he speaks to the media outside Arthur Road Jail, where the trial of Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, was held, in Mumbai. (Reuters / File)

The BJP dropped sitting MP Poonam Mahajan as its Mumbai North Central candidate and replaced her with Nikam. According to the party leaders, the decision to drop Mahajan was based on organisational feedback after several poll surveys showed a negative rating for her. Some leaders also claimed that the decision was taken some time back, but the party's search for her replacement took time, reported PTI.

Who is Ujjwal Nikam?

Born in Maharashtra's Jalgaon, Ujjwal Nikam was a special public prosecutor. He began his career as a district prosecutor in Jalgaon and then worked his way up to the state and national trials.
Nikam has been associated with several prominent cases, including the 1993 Bombay bombings, the Gulshan Kumar murder case, the Pramod Mahajan murder case, and the 2008 Mumbai attacks. He was also the public prosecutor in the 2013 Mumbai gang rape case, 2016 Kopardi rape and murder case.
Nikam had argued on behalf of the state during the 26/11 Mumbai attack trial. He had come under fire after he cooked up an anecdote that the Mumbai attack's accused Ajmal Kasab had demanded ‘mutton biryani’ in jail. During a global conference on counter-terrorism in Jaipur in 2015, Nikam had disclosed that he made up the lie to “break an emotional wave” that was being created in favour of the terrorist.
The BJP candidate was awarded the Padma Shri by the government of India in 2016.
In his over 30 years of career, Nikam has secured 628 life imprisonment and 37 death penalties.
His son, Aniket Nikam, is also a criminal lawyer in the Mumbai High Court.

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