Mumbai: A special TADA court on Thursday convicted Riyaz Siddique in the case involving murder of builder Pradeep Jain. Siddique has been convicted for criminal conspiracy, murder, attempt to murder, extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt, house trespass in order to commit offence punishable with death, and other relevant sections of the IPC and TADA. The quantum of punishment is expected to be pronounced by the court on September 8.
Special TADA court judge G.A. Sanap in his order said that based on concrete and cogent evidence, the prosecution had proved that Siddique — along with convicted accused Abu Salem, Mohammed Hasan Mehendi, Subhash Bind and Shekhar Kadam (approver), and wanted accused including fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Anees — conspired to strike terror in the minds of the builder community and compel the Jain brothers to surrender their rights over the ‘Kol Dongri property’ so that huge profit could be derived through illegal means.
The judge held that the prosecution had further proved that Siddique was an integral part of the criminal conspiracy to kill Jain.
Dealing with the fact that Siddique first turned approver only to later turn hostile while deposing as witness in court and was hence made an accused and separately tried, judge Sanap said, “The prosecution has further proved that the accused Siddique has committed breach of the condition of pardon tendered to him on July 18, 2006, whereby he was legally bound to state the truth before the court at the time of his evidence but by not telling the truth before this court, he gave false evidence before the court.” Judge Sanap will hear special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam and the defence lawyer before announcing the quantum of Siddique’s punishment on September 8.
According to the prosecution, Jain was shot dead after he allegedly refused to part with his property to deported gangster Salem.
Salem and others have already been convicted in the case, where Jain was shot dead outside his bungalow in suburban Juhu on March 7, 1995.
Recently, Siddique was also convicted in the case involving the 1993 serial blasts where he is the lone accused facing a murder trial.
