A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court has rejected the plea made by the son of 1993 Bombay blasts accused Hanif Kadawala that had sought to include a close relative of theirs as an accused in the murder case of his father.
As per the CBI case, Chhota Rajan had conspired to kill those involved in the 1993 serial blasts to gain public sympathy. He had also parted ways with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim after the blasts. He is the prime accused in the murder case of Kadawala and is alleged to have sent three men from his gang to Kadawala’s Bandra office, where he was shot dead by them on February 7, 2001.
The plea made by Kadawala’s son in March this year, under Section 319 of the criminal procedure code, said that the murder took place at the behest of a close relative and called for him to be made an accused in the case. Under the provision, anyone whose involvement in a crime comes to light during a trial, can be joined as an accused and tried.
The plea had claimed that there is sufficient evidence to show that the crime had taken place at the relative’s behest.
Rajan’s advocate had supported the plea stating that Rajan had no knowledge of the crime and had been framed in it. Entire case papers, reports and statements had come before court after a plea made by Rajan, seeking directions by the court to the CBI, to do so. The court had directed the agency to bring them before it. In these, a statement recorded of a friend of Kadawala’s son, who had confronted an accused who had been acquitted in Kadawala’s murder case, had come to light. The statement pointed to the role of Kadawala’s relative in his murder. The plea of Kadawala’s son, who is an intervener in the case, was based on this revelation.
After Kadawala’s death, Chhota Rajan had been made an absconding accused in his murder case and three men who were tried, were acquitted for lack of evidence.
Special Public Prosecutor Pradeep Gharat said the CBI, which had supported the son’s plea, will take a call on whether to challenge the order.
Kadawala had been accused in the 1993 Bombay blasts case of having transported weapons used in the blasts to the city on the instructions of Tiger Memon and hidden them in the garage of actor Sanjay Dutt. The 13 explosions on March 12, 1993 had killed 257 and injured 713 others.
