Underworld gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s aide, Abdul Rauf alias Dawood Merchant, was deported to India late on Wednesday and handed over to a team of Mumbai crime branch officials. The process of handing him over to the Indian authorities was completed along the Indo-Bangladesh border in the presence of border security forces.
Merchant was convicted in the 1997 murder of singer Gulshan Kumar — and was sentenced for life in 2002. Here are five things to know about the Gulshan Kumar murder.
August 12, 1997: Gulshan Kumar, owner of T-Series, is shot dead when coming out of a temple at Jeet Nagar in Juhu. Three assailants had pumped in 16 bullets, killing him on the spot.
August 30, 1997: Music composer Nadeem Akhtar Saifee is declared a co-conspirator in Kumar’s murder. Saifee, who allegedly hired the killers, has been in the United Kingdom ever since.
October 1997: Ramesh Taurani, owner of Tips cassettes, is arrested on charges of abetting the crime. Taurani allegedly paid Rs25 lakh to Kumar’s killers.
November 1997: The police file a 400-page charge sheet where 26 people are accused. Fifteen people are arrested. One of the accused, Mohammed Ali Shaikh, turns approver in the case. More arrests continue.
January 2001: Abdul Rauf alias Daud Merchant, one of the assassins, is arrested from Kolkata.
June 2001: Trial in the case begins.
April 2002: Eighteen of the 19 accused are acquitted. Abdul Rauf is found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.
November 2016: Rauf is to be produced before the special MCOCA court today.
