Sharjah court rejects appeal by Mumbai DJ facing 25-year jail

According to a senior officer of the Mumbai Police, “The appeal against his conviction by the lower court was turned down by the High Court there. An appeal will now have to be made before the Supreme Court in Abu Dhabi.”

Since the appeal has been turned down, the 25-year  jail sentence handed out to him stands, the officer said, adding, “We are, however, hopeful that the Supreme Court will take into consideration the fact that he has been framed.”

Anthony Paul, a Mira Road-based baker, along with his accomplice Rajesh Borate were arrested in April by the Mumbai Police crime branch after it came to light that Paul had tried to exact revenge on five people by sending them to Sharjah with articles laced with drugs. While three others managed to survive, Rodrigues and Pereira were caught with drugs.

In the case of Rodrigues, Paul was upset with him over a comment he made when both their families had gone on a trip to a farmhouse in 2022. In January this year, on Paul’s instructions, Borate posed as an event manager, called up Rodrigues and offered him a job at an event in Sharjah. As he was about to fly to Sharjah on February 6, Borate gave him a cake with drugs hidden in it.

As per the probe by the Mumbai Police crime branch, Paul then called up the Sharjah airport authorities and tipped them off about Rodrigues carrying drugs in a cake. When police checked the cake box, they found drugs in it along with a note saying he had more drugs if anyone needed it. Following this, Rodrigues was arrested by the Sharjah airport police and has been imprisoned since then.

In the chargesheet filed by the Mumbai Police crime branch in connection with the Chrisann Pereira case, police had mentioned that Paul had framed Rodrigues as well and provided details of the same. The chargesheet was translated into Arabic and sent to the UAE where their lawyer used it at the appeal stage.

Rodrigues could seek some hope from the fact that another Mumbai based couple — Mohammad Shaheed and Oniba Qureshi — who had been unwittingly used as drug mules and arrested by Qatar authorities in 2019. They too faced conviction, however, after it came to light that they were unaware of the presence of narcotics in a bag that Shaheed’s aunt asked them to carry, they were acquitted of all charges and eventually released in 2021.