Lawyer’s murder case, a step closer to trial

The Mumbai police’s crime branch on Thursday filed a 1,224-page chargesheet against four people for allegedly killing one of the defence lawyers in the November 2008 terror attacks, Shahid Azmi, reports HT Correspondent.

The Mumbai police’s crime branch on Thursday filed a 1,224-page chargesheet against four people for allegedly killing one of the defence lawyers in the November 2008 terror attacks, Shahid Azmi.

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The chargesheet was filed before a designated Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court.

Azmi, who defended recently acquitted 26/11 accused Fahim Ansari, was shot at in his Taximen’s Colony office in Kurla on February 11.

The crime branch has unraveled the conspiracy and nailed the assailants, Devendra Babu Jagtap alias J.D. (28), Pintoo Deoram Dagale (25) and Hasmukh Solanki. A fourth accused, Vinod Yashwant Vichare (32), who allegedly arranged money and arms to execute the murder, has also been arrested.

The accused have been booked under the MCOCA, the Indian Penal Code and the Arms Act. They have been charged with organised crime resulting in the death of a person, conspiracy, murder, and carrying firearms without licences, among other offences.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime), Deven Bharti, said the crime branch has named 95 witnesses to support of its case against the four arrested and six absconding accused, including prime conspirator Bharat Nepali.

The witnesses include the sole eyewitness and the owner of a cybercafé at Mulund from where information about Azmi and his photographs were downloaded and sent by conspirators. Names of some colleagues and relatives of Azmi also figure in the list of witnesses.

The chargesheet also includes crucial evidence in the form of ballistic reports of the revolvers used by the assailants and empty cartridges recovered from the spot. Sources said the ballistic reports confirm that the bullets were fired from the revolvers seized from the accused.

Sources said the chargesheet also contains records of telephone calls made and received by the plotters and shooters. That is to prove the point that the young lawyer was murdered at Nepali’s behest, a source said.