The Hindu : Daud Merchant sentenced to life

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 30, 2002

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Daud Merchant sentenced to life

Abdul Rauf Daud Merchant

MUMBAI APRIL 29. The Sessions Court today sentenced Abdul Rauf Daud Merchant alias Rauf Raja, an alleged hitman of the Abu Salem gang, to a life term with 10 years' rigorous imprisonment and rejected the prosecution plea for death row to the accused following his conviction last week for gunning down the music baron, Gulshan Kumar, here on August 12, 1997.

The Additional Sessions Judge, M.L. Tahiliyani, who acquitted 18 other accused in the case in a stunning blow to the Mumbai police, awarded life sentence to the gunman on two counts of killing the audio cassette king and attempting to murder the victim's driver, Roop Lal.

It was not a case of extreme brutality and the prosecution had failed to prove either the alleged hatching of the conspiracy or the contract put out for the killing of Gulshan Kumar, Mr. Tahiliyani held, turning down a plea by the Special Public Prosecutor, Ujwal Nikam, that Rauf Raja be awarded capital punishment as it was "a rarest of rare crimes" and any lesser sentence would embolden the convict, a hardened criminal, to carry on with his nefarious activities.

However, Mr. Nikam told presspersons outside the court that he would advice the Maharashtra Government to contest the order in the Mumbai High Court and press for death penalty to the gunman.

"There are no coherent evidences that this is a case of contract killing," Mr. Tahilyani observed in a significant reference to the prosecution chargesheet, which alleged that the prime accused, Ramesh Taurani, owner of Tips Cassette Industries (who was acquitted last week), had paid Rs. 25 lakhs to the Gulf-based underworld don, Abu Salem, to carry out the killing of the T-Series company proprietor due to professional rivalry.

UNI

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Daud Merchant sentenced to life