MUMBAI, SEPT 21: Two members of the Dawood Ibrahim gang who had hurled acid on Dipti Khanna in 1995 were sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment by the sessions court today. Main accused Manoj Makwana and Noor Mohammed, who later told the police that they had attacked the wrong person, were also fined Rs 50,000 each. And in a rare verdict, Additional Sessions Judge A R Joshi directed that of the fine, Dipti be paid Rs 50,000 as compensation and the rest go to the state government. The victim needs to be compensated as the crime is of a serious and heinous nature, observed Judge Joshi.Four other accused - Sagir Abdulla Khan, Anwar Abdulla Sarguru, brother of absconding gangster Feroz Kokani, Mohammed Moinuddin Shaikh alias Taka and Kader Hasan Jagir - have been acquitted as the police were unable to trace vital witnesses to prove conspiracy charges against them. Sarguru has already been sentenced to life imprisonment in August for aiding Kokani's escape from JJ Hospital.On July 26, 1995, Maukana andMohammad threw acid on the face of Dipti, then a TYBCom student at NM College, as she waited for a bus opposite Royal Hotel, Juhu Tara Road, between 6.45 am and 7 am. Dipti was totally blinded in the left eye and partially blinded in the right. She also sustained severe injuries on her face, chest and stomach. She was admitted to Nanavati Hospital, where she has undergone plastic surgery on 15 occasions since.A case was registered under sections 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code at Santacruz police station. Relying on eyewitness accounts, a team comprising then Senior Police Inspector and now ACP V N Chowgule, PI LB Shaikh, API Ashok Bharte and constables Joseph, Ghadge and Gorule traced the getaway taxi and arrested its driver, Kader, from Antop Hill. Makwana and Mohammed were later nabbed from Sonaria in Bhavnagar district, Gujarat.Makwana and Mohammed told the police that they had thrown acid on Dipti by mistake. They were paid Rs 75,000 for the job by Sagir Khan, who wanted to getback at his former wife Salma for divorcing him after one-and-a-half months of marriage. According to the police, Sagir would torture Salma regularly. Salma was also a student of NM, lived in the same locality as did Dipti, and even resembled her. The operation was planned by Sarguru, while Taka had shown Makwana and Mohammed the bus stop and Dipti's photograph. All the accused except Sagir were in police custody. Sagir was later released on bail by the Bombay High Court.The case was heard by four different judges and was delayed after the defence raised an objection that the case should be tried under section 326 (causing grievous hurt) and not under section 307, and by a lower court and not the sessions court. However, the plea was rejected.
