Gulshan Kumar murder: SC issues notice to state govt
On August 12, 1997, Gulshan Kumar was shot dead while he was coming out of a temple in Juhu
The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, issued notice to the Maharashtra government on an appeal filed by Abdul Rashid Dawood Merchant, a convict in the TSeries founder Gulshan Kumar murder case, in which Maharashtra is the prosecuting state.
A division bench of Justices Surya Kant and Abhay Oka also directed the Supreme Court registry to call for papers and proceedings of another appeal filed in the case by Abdul Rauf Dawood Merchant, Abdul Rashid’s brother, which would be heard together.
On August 12, 1997, Gulshan Kumar was shot dead while he was coming out of a temple in Juhu. The prosecution claimed that his industry rivals had paid money to Dubai-based gangster Abu Salem to kill him.
In 2002, the trial court sentenced Abdul Rauf to life imprisonment. His brother Abdul Rashid was acquitted for lack of evidence, along with film producer Ramesh Taurani, who was co-founder of Tips Industries, T-Series’ rival music company.
On July 1, 2021, the Bombay High Court, while upholding Abdul Rauf’s conviction, reversed Abdul Rashid’s acquittal and sentenced him to life imprisonment for murder and criminal conspiracy. The court observed that he was one of the assassins who took part in the shoot-out. The HC had then noted that Kumar was shot at by the assailants allegedly hired by Nadeem Saifee (of Nadeem-Shravan music composer duo fame) and Salem.
The HC had upheld the acquittal of Taurani, observing that there was “no cogent and convincing evidence to establish that he had conspired with Saifee or Salem.”
Abdul Rashid challenged his conviction by the HC before the SC. His counsel Satish Maneshinde contended that the HC judgment “prima facie lacks any finding of Abdul Rashid’s presence at the spot at the time of the incident”.
His appeal further states that the HC has “failed to appreciate the evidence placed before it and has failed to take into consideration the contradictions established amongst the statements of the eye-witnesses”.
Further, Abdul Rashid’s appeal states that since he is 50 years old with some medical issues, and should be granted bail. At present, he is at the Nashik central prison. The appeal will be heard after six weeks.