The Bombay High Court on Thursday upheld the life imprisonment of Abdul Rauf Dawood Merchant for the murder of Gulshan Kumar, founder of T-Series music label, on August 12, 1997. It upheld the acquittal of film producer Ramesh Taurani in the case.
A division bench of justices Sadhana Jadhav and NR Borkar overturned the acquittal of Abdul Rashid Dawood Merchant in the case and convicted him. The bench upheld Rauf’s conviction and sentence under sections 302 (punishment for murder) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy). It, however, acquitted him under sections 392 (punishment for robbery) and 397 (robbery, or dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt) of the Indian Penal Code.
The bench said, “The appellant [Abdul Rauf] has criminal antecedents and is not entitled for remission as he absconded right after his arrest. Hence in the interest of justice at large, appellant does not deserve any leniency..”
Abdul Rashid was acquitted by the trial court but convicted for murder and criminal conspiracy by the High Court, which had ordered him to surrender either before the sessions court or the DN Nagar police station, failing which a non-bailable warrant would be issued against him.
Hatching of conspiracy
According to the prosecution, a conspiracy to kill Kumar was hatched at Anees Ibrahim’s office in May 1997 after the music baron refused to pay ₹ 10 crore to gangster Abu Salem as protection money. Abdul Rauf was present at the meeting along with Salem, music composer Nadeem Saifee and one Abdul Qayyum. Salem had then ordered Abdul Rauf to kill Kumar and promised him money, men and weapons.
Kumar received extortion calls on August 5 and 8, 1997, but he refused to pay the extortion money. On August 12, 1997, when he stepped out of his car to visit a temple at Jeet Nagar in Versova, two teams of assailants, one led by Abdul Rauf, and another by Abdul Rashid, saw the opportune moment as his carbine-wielding bodyguard was absent on that day.
One of the assailants, identified as Adil Mohammed Ali Khan, walked up to Kumar and fired at him from point blank range. Kumar tried to escape through the bylanes of the slum but the assailants, who fired in the air to disperse the crowd first, fired 16 bullets to kill him on the spot.
On January 9, 2001 Abdul Rauf confessed to the murder. On April 29, 2002 sessions judge ML Tahilyani sentenced Abdul Rauf to life imprisonment. In 2009, he fled India after he was granted furlough by the High Court. However, he was extradited from Bangladesh in 2016 and lodged at the Arthur Road Jail.
