Friday, February 12, 2010
MUMBAI: The lawyer defending Faheem Ansari, one of the three arrested in connection with the 26/11 attack, was killed, nine days before the special court sets a date for the start of the final arguments.
Unidentified men fired four rounds at Shahid Azmi from close range at his office in Kurla’s Taximen’s Colony, central Mumbai, around 7.40pm, police said, adding the assailants escaped in the darkness. The spot is behind the upscale Bandra-Kurla Complex, which houses the headquarters of several banks and business houses. Azmi, in his mid 30s, was rushed to Rajawadi Hospital in nearby Ghatkopar, but was declared dead on arrival.
“We are verifying if there were three or four assailants. Azmi had received threats from don Ravi Pujari a few years ago but I am not aware of any recent threats,” said deputy commissioner of police Milind Bharambe.
Ansari, whom Azmi represented, is in custody along with co-accused Shabahuddin Ahmed and Ajmal Kasab, the only alleged Pakistani gunman captured alive during the November 26, 2008, rampage.
The special court has completed recording the statements of the trio on the evidence presented by the prosecution. On February 20, it was scheduled to set the date for the final arguments by the prosecution and the defence.
The killing shocked Mumbai’s legal fraternity, with some blaming the government for failing to provide security. “I met Shahid over lunch just yesterday. He told me not to discuss the 26/11 case details on the phone as he feared the police could tape our calls. The government had not provided any protection to both of us,” said Ejaz Naqvi, the lawyer who is representing Shabahuddin. Ansari’s wife Yasmin said the incident had shocked her and left her worried about her husband’s safety and his fate in the trial.
Azmi himself was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment under the now-repealed Tada after the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition. He served time in Tihar Jail for a few years before being acquitted by the Supreme Court for lack of evidence in 1999. Azmi believed Muslims were targeted in terror cases.
Azmi, who got a law degree after being let off in the Tada case, began practising in 2003. He had represented the accused in the July 11, 2006, train blasts and those in the Malegaon explosions.
MUMBAI: The lawyer defending Faheem Ansari, one of the three arrested in connection with the 26/11 attack, was killed, nine days before the special court sets a date for the start of the final arguments.
Unidentified men fired four rounds at Shahid Azmi from close range at his office in Kurla’s Taximen’s Colony, central Mumbai, around 7.40pm, police said, adding the assailants escaped in the darkness. The spot is behind the upscale Bandra-Kurla Complex, which houses the headquarters of several banks and business houses. Azmi, in his mid 30s, was rushed to Rajawadi Hospital in nearby Ghatkopar, but was declared dead on arrival.
“We are verifying if there were three or four assailants. Azmi had received threats from don Ravi Pujari a few years ago but I am not aware of any recent threats,” said deputy commissioner of police Milind Bharambe.
Ansari, whom Azmi represented, is in custody along with co-accused Shabahuddin Ahmed and Ajmal Kasab, the only alleged Pakistani gunman captured alive during the November 26, 2008, rampage.
The special court has completed recording the statements of the trio on the evidence presented by the prosecution. On February 20, it was scheduled to set the date for the final arguments by the prosecution and the defence.
The killing shocked Mumbai’s legal fraternity, with some blaming the government for failing to provide security. “I met Shahid over lunch just yesterday. He told me not to discuss the 26/11 case details on the phone as he feared the police could tape our calls. The government had not provided any protection to both of us,” said Ejaz Naqvi, the lawyer who is representing Shabahuddin. Ansari’s wife Yasmin said the incident had shocked her and left her worried about her husband’s safety and his fate in the trial.
Azmi himself was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment under the now-repealed Tada after the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition. He served time in Tihar Jail for a few years before being acquitted by the Supreme Court for lack of evidence in 1999. Azmi believed Muslims were targeted in terror cases.
Azmi, who got a law degree after being let off in the Tada case, began practising in 2003. He had represented the accused in the July 11, 2006, train blasts and those in the Malegaon explosions.
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