Mumbai: A special court has acquitted two persons in a 1988-89 case concerning a conspiracy to eliminate industrialist Nusli Wadia, the then Chairman of Bombay Dyeing Ltd. The main accused in the case, now deceased, was a senior executive of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) reporting directly to Mukesh Ambani.
A detailed order is not yet available. The conspiracy allegedly did not succeed as the police caught whiff of it. The case was later transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The CBI had charged Kirti Ambani, Arjun Babaria, Ivan Sequeira and Ramesh Jagothia with criminal conspiracy in 1988-89 to murder Wadia. Kirti Ambani was charged with instigating the other accused. Apart from him, co-accused Babaria also died pending trial and only Sequeira and Jagothia faced trial. On Thursday, special CBI Judge SP Naik-Nimbalkar acquitted the duo.
As per the case, the plan was to intercept the industrialist'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.
In 2017, Wadia had himself testified as a prosecution witness by making an application to be examined, being the victim in the incident. The prosecution had not named him among the witnesses. Wadia had said in his testimony that he did not know Kirti Ambani, but was informed he worked for RIL. Further, he stated that he did not know a reason why Kirti Ambani would conspire other than the fact that he worked for Reliance which was managed by Dhirubhai Ambani and his sons.
In a statement given to the police in 1990, Mukesh Ambani had denied that Bombay Dyeing was a rival. He had further stated that he learnt about his employee's involvement only after his arrest. Last year, Sequeira had made a plea to summon Mukesh Ambani as a witness and alleged that he was the "main conspirator" and was being shielded by the agency. The court had rejected his plea.
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