TADA court gives Riyaz Siddique lifer for builder's murder

Mumbai: A special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) court on Tuesday sentenced Riyaz Siddique to life imprisonment in the 1995 murder case of builder Pradeep Jain. On Thursday (September 7), Siddique was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for his role in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case. On August 31, the special TADA court had found Siddique guilty of the builder’s murder.

According to the prosecution, the accused acted as a mediator on behalf of Abu Salem and Anees Ibrahim, who wanted the victim to part with huge chunk of his property in Salem’s name. Siddique’s trial was separated because he turned approver but later turned hostile during testimony.

Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said Siddique’s conviction has proved underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and his gang members were involved in extortions too.

Pradeep Jain’s brother Sunil Jain, who was also injured in the firing that killed his brother, told The Asian Age, “It is a coincidence that when Abu Salem was sentenced and now when Riyaz is sentenced there was my brother (Pradeep Jain’s) Shrad and I feel that now my brother’s soul will rest in peace,”.

Apart from Siddique, gangster Abu Salem, Salem’s driver Mehndi Hassan and another builder Virendra Jhamb were also convicted in the case. While the court awarded life imprisonment to Salem and Hassan, Jhamb was freed after taking into account the period he had already spent behind bars.
 i.e. from December 22, 2005 to September 25, 2006.

Siddique’s trial was separated from others because despite turning approver, during testimony he did not divulge the complete details of the conspiracy and the crime and hence was declared hostile. Another accused who turned approver supported the prosecution and helped prove the charges against the accused facing the trial.

The judge while convicting the accused had held that the prosecution had proved that conspiracy was hatched by Salem, Hassan and other accused in Dubai to pressurise and force the Jain brothers to surrender rights of the property located on Dongri in suburban Andheri. Salem was demanding money, pursuant to which he had demanded three flats in Mamta Cooperative Society in Andheri, in lieu of the ransom. The three flats were sold and the money generated from the sale was given to Salem in Dubai.

The crime and the trial

• October 1994: Conspiracy was hatched in Dubai to extort the Jain brothers
• March 7, 1995: Pradeep Jain was shot dead outside his Juhu bungalow
• Sunil, brother of the deceased, was also shot in the arm
• 2008: Trial in Jain murder case began
• Feb. 16, 2015: TADA court convicted Abu Salem, Mehdi Hassan and Virendra Jhamb
• Feb. 25, 2015: Court sentenced Salem and Hassan to life imprisonment
• Aug. 31, 2017: Siddique was convicted in the case
• Sept. 12, 2017: Siddique gets life imprisonment