Gulshan Kumar murder: witness deposes against Sheikh

A Sewree fast track court on Tuesday recorded the evidence of the first witness in the Gulshan Kumar murder case against accused Abdul Qayyum Sheikh

A Sewree fast track court on Tuesday recorded the evidence of the first witness in the Gulshan Kumar murder case against accused Abdul Qayyum Sheikh. Kumar was killed in 1997 and the accused is alleged to be part of the conspiracy to eliminate Kumar.

The complainant in the case supported the prosecution and said that he had seen three men open fire at Kumar in August 1997 outside a temple of which he is a trustee. Prosecution has informed court that it would examine nine witnesses against Sheikh.

According to the prosecution,Sheikh was one of the conspirators who attended a meeting at Dubai where the plot to kill Kumar was hatched. The meetings took place in the Dubai office of Anees Ibrahim,brother of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. It is the case of the prosecution that gangster Abu Salem and absconding accused and music composer Nadeem Saifee were also present at the meetings.

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Police have alleged that Kumar was murdered due to business rivalry and music baron Ramesh Taurani had paid Rs 25 lakh to Salem to kill Kumar. However,police could not prove the conspiracy angle and Taurani and 17 other accused were acquitted by a trial court. The state has filed an appeal in Bombay high court against the lower court’s verdict acquitting the accused.

Nadeem was in London at the time of Kumar’s murder and has not returned since. The government had sought extradition of Nadeem but lost the case in a UK court. Sheikh remained absconding until his deportation to India in 2007.

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