Newsmaker | Go-to lawyer Ujjwal Nikam is back at centre of key cases in Maharashtra, poll loss behind him

Days earlier, on December 28, the Maharashtra government announced that Nikam would be the special public prosecutor in the recent case of the rape and murder of a minor in Kalyan.

The government’s choice was not surprising, with Nikam the go-to man for the state in legal cases across party lines and governments in Maharashtra.

Nikam’s career

Nikam started out as a civil lawyer in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon town. His first big break came when he represented the state during the trial of the 1993 Bombay blasts in Mumbai. He then represented the state in the murder case of T-Series founder Gulshan Kumar in 1997, and the murder of BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, who was shot dead by his younger brother Pravin in 2006.

Nikam prides himself on having secured “over 30 death penalties” and “over 600 life imprisonments” in his career even as some of these death penalties have been commuted at the appeal stage.

Other high-profile cases in which the government turned to Nikam include the 2006 Khairlanji massacre, where four members of a family were murdered, with the two women also paraded naked, in Bhandara district; the Shakti Mills gang-rape cases; as well as the Kopardi rape and murder case.

What made Nikam a household name across the fame was when he represented the state during the 26/11 terror trial against Ajmal Kasab. His statements drew much attention at the time, including his famous remarks that Kasab had demanded biryani while in jail. He later told reporters that he had “made up the statement… to divert people’s attention”.

In recent years, Nikam has taken a back seat as a prosecutor, not taking up any prominent cases. He also dropped out of some cases mid-trial, including the 2011 Mumbai triple blasts case and the 2014 murder of Mohsin Shaikh, in which members of a Hindu right-wing group are accused.

In May, Nikam resigned as special public prosecutor in 29 ongoing cases, ahead of the BJP giving him a ticket to contest in the Lok Sabha polls from Mumbai North Central. Nikam presented himself as a “patriot” in the campaign, drawing on the many terror-related cases he had been a part of. However, he lost to Varsha Gaikwad, the president of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee, by 16,541 votes.

He then sought to be reinstated as a special public prosecutor in the cases he had recused from, and was promptly appointed again.

He still continues to remain a prosecutor in a few cases, including the 26/11 trial against Zaibuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal and the serial murder charges against Vijay Palande. In fact, Palande had challenged Nikam’s reappointment given that he had contested on the BJP ticket, saying he would “act to further the BJP’s agenda” and may “go to any extent to get a false conviction” in high-profile cases to bolster the party’s image. The court, however, rejected the plea.

Earlier this year, the Congress too had opposed the suggestion to appoint Nikam in the Badlapur sexual abuse case, saying his ties with the BJP could hinder proceedings.