After 31 years, man aged 65 now acquitted in 1993 Mumbai riot case | Mumbai News

MUMBAI: Thirty-one years after a now 65-year-old man was implicated for allegedly being part of a mob of 300 involved in rioting and attempting to murder three men in Mumbai’s Sewri neighbourhood during the 1993 riots, a sessions court this week acquitted him after concluding that one of the victims was injured in police firing that ensued to control the riots.
Out on bail, accused Nadirshah Khan had absconded for three decades and was arrested earlier this year. While another accused, Shahajan Pasha, was exonerated in a separate trial in 2004, accused Abbas Pasha expired in 2000.
Acquitting Khan, the judge said, “Considering the entire evidence deliberated above, there is no adequate and credible evidence to substantiate that the accused… was a member of an unlawful assembly and has perpetrated rioting armed with a deadly weapon. Furthermore, there is no evidence to corroborate that the accused… has attempted to commit murder of complainant Rajesh Sawant, Sanjay Parab and Abhikshit Gawli in furtherance of a common object of the unlawful assembly.”
The three victims turned hostile in court and did not identify the accused. While Gawli said he had not seen the assailants due to darkness, Parab said he never got an opportunity to see the attackers.
Referring to Sawant’s testimony, the complainant in the case, the judge said, “However, this witness… disavowed his statement to the effect that the accused before the court (Nadirshah) along with (other) accused fired at him and his companions from second floor of Ismail building. Therefore, this witness was declared hostile by prosecution. In cross-examination, nothing has come on record to indicate that this witness is providing false testimony. So the evidence of complainant absolves accused from alleged act of his participation.”
The incident occurred on Jan 9, 1993, at New Municipal Tenement Colony, Shivaji Nagar, Lanjekar Marg, Sewri. The police arrested the three accused, identifying them as those who fired the shots.