Mumbai: A special court here for TADA cases on Tuesday sentenced Riyaz Siddiqui, convicted in the 1993 serial blasts case recently, to life imprisonment in the 1995 builder Pradeep Jain murder case.
“The court has sentenced Siddiqui to life imprisonment,” said special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.
The court for Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act cases had convicted Siddiqui in the Jain case on August 31. Last week, the court sentenced him to 10 years in jail in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case.
In 2015, the court had convicted extradited gangster Abu Salem and his driver in the Jain case, and sentenced both to life imprisonment.
Siddiqui, though put on trial earlier, had turned approver in 2006. However, after he did not divulge all the information during his deposition, the prosecution declared him a hostile witness in 2008.
According to the prosecution’s plea, the court subsequently revoked the pardon granted to Siddiqui and he was tried separately.
Siddiqui, in his confession recorded by police under the TADA, had said he was present at the conspiracy meeting held by Salem and the fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s brother, Anees Ibrahim. Siddiqui had also narrated the entire plot of Jain’s murder in his confession.
On March 7, 1995 Pradeep Jain, a city-based builder, was shot dead by assailants outside his Juhu bungalow.
According to the police, he was killed after he allegedly refused to give away his huge property to Salem.
Naeem Khan, one of the accused, turned approver and was granted pardon.
Commenting on the judgement, Nikam said the case proved that ‘D-Company’ (Dawood gang) was in the business of extortion and land/property grabbing. Siddiqui was the prime conspirator while Anees Ibrahim (who is absconding) had directly spoken to Jain prior to the murder, Nikam pointed out.
