Nusli Wadia murder conspiracy case: Accused seeks Mukesh Ambani be summoned as witness

In a 1989 case of conspiracy toward the murder of industrialist Nusli Wadia, chairman of Wadia Group, an accused has sought that industrialist Mukesh Ambani be summoned as a witness.

Accused Ivan Sequeira moved the court on Thursday for issuing witness summons to Mukesh Ambani, to which the court has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file its response by July 28.

One of the accused in the case, now deceased, was Kirti Ambani, a senior executive at Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) who reported to Mukesh Ambani directly. The court had charged three people in a conspiracy to commit murder, namely Kirti Ambani, Arjun Babaria, Sequeira and Ramesh Jagothia, in 1988-89.

Kirti Ambani was the prime accused and was charged with a greater role in instigating the other accused. Apart from Kirti, another co-accused is also deceased and only two face trial.

Mukesh Ambani had given a statement to the CBI in 1990 in which he had denied that Bombay Dyeing was a rival and said that he had learnt about Kirti Ambani’s involvement in the case only after he was arrested.

In June 2016, Wadia had testified before the court and had said that he did not know Kirti Ambani, but was informed he worked for RIL.

On being asked further, he had said that he did not know any reason why Kirti Ambani would conspire other than the fact that he worked for Reliance which was managed by Dhirubhai Ambani and his sons.

As per the CBI’s case, the plan was to intercept Wadia's car when he returns from his office to his residence at Prabhadevi and murder him.

Sequeira was allegedly shown the photograph of Wadia and was paid a huge sum of money for the commission of the offence. However, the plan never materialised and two of the accused were arrested by the CID in 1989 and the case was eventually transferred to the CBI.