Bombay HC Upholds Conviction Of Dawood Aide Abdul Rauf In Gulshan Kumar Murder Case

The Bombay High Court on Thursday (1 July) upheld the conviction of sharpshooter Abdul Rauf Dawood Merchant in the case of murder of music baron Gulshan Kumar, reports Times of India.

The court dismissed the appeal filed by fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s henchman Abdul challenging his conviction and the life term handed down to him in the said case.

A bench of Justices S S Jadhav and N R Borkar, upheld the life sentence for Merchant and directed that he get “no remission’’ looking at his past conduct in absconding twice.

“Abdul merchant shall surrender forthwith before sessions court or before D N Nagar police station.. He shall then surrender his passport to the police. In the event he does not surrender the sessions court will execute a non-bailable warrant and take him into custody,’’ said the HC while pronouncing the judgment via video conferencing.

Notably, T-Series founder and Hindi film producer Gulshan Kumar was killed on 19 August 19, 1997, in Juhu. The police has termed the incident as a case of business rivalry.

A total of 19 persons were arrested in connection with the murder including Tips owner Ramesh Taurani. Five years later, a trial court, however, found evidence to only convict Abdul and acquitted 18 others accused in the case.

Abdul was absconding for a long time after the murder and was arrested in 2001. In March 2009, he again jumped parole and went to Bangladesh. He was arrested in in November 2016 from the Meghalaya border.