Taurani’s bail rejected

December 26: The City Civil and Sessions Court today rejected the bail application filed by Tips cassette company owner Ramesh Taurani, pri...

December 26: The City Civil and Sessions Court today rejected the bail application filed by Tips cassette company owner Ramesh Taurani, prime accused and alleged conspirator in the sensational Gulshan Kumar murder case.

Additional sessions judge Shrikant Prabhakar Kukdey ruled: "It appears that there is a deep-rooted conspiracy behind Kumar’s murder. Investigations into the case are at a critical stage. "Though this cannot be the sole reason to detain the applicant for an indefinite period, more time must be given to the investigating agency. At this stage, the application will not be granted."

He also ruled out the allegation by Taurani’s counsel, Advocate Satish Mane-Shinde, that the police had produced fabricated copies of statements of two of the witnesses before the court. As directed by the judge on December 24, the judicial clerk at the metropolitan magistrate’s court, Umesh Rane, produced all the original documents related to the case. The statements of K Balsara and Arif Lakdawala, two prime witnesses in the case, were also found in the documents.

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Earlier, Mane-Shinde had objected to the police’s move to submit uncertified copies of these two additional statements, which spoke of the mobile telephone number of notorious gangster Abu Salem in Dubai.

Counsel for the police, advocate Ujjwal Nikam, while on his way out of the courtroom with deputy police commissioner (detection) K L Prasad, said, "This order has proved the stand taken by the Mumbai police about the involvement of Ramesh Taurani and Nadeem Akhtar Saifee in the case. This order will help us in the proceedings of Nadeem’s extradition which are currently on in London. We will supply all this material to the London court."

Mane-Shinde, surrounded by visibly upset relatives of Taurani, said they would decide on moving the Bombay High Court only after they received a certified copy of the order. "At this stage, I do not want to make any comments on the issue," he said.

Cassette king Gulshan Kumar was killed by three gunmen in Juhu on August 12, 1997. Officers of the Crime branch of Mumbai police had alleged that Taurani had made a payment of Rs 35 lakh along with music director Nadeem as part of a conspiracy to eliminate the audio king.

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Taurani was arrested on October 4 this year and later released on bail on October 23 by the High Court. Subsequently, the police moved the Supreme Court, which cancelled the bail given to Taurani and directed him to surrender before a metropolitan magistrate on or before December 3. After his surrender, Taurani applied for bail in the sessions court on December 6, saying he was being falsely implicated in the case.