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Nearly five years after Gulshan Kumar was gunned down outside a temple in suburban Juhu, the prosecution on Tuesday conceded before the trial court that there was no evidence against 15 accused and sought their discharge from the case.
Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, however, argued that there was strong evidence against three accused -- Rauf Raja, Rashid Daud Merchant and Ramesh Taurani.
Rauf Raja and Rashid Daud had killed Gulshan Kumar, while Taurani had given Rs 2.5 million contract money to prime conspirator Abu Salem, he alleged.
The prosecutor conceded that there was no evidence against Javed Kalia, Rafiq Ansari, Rafiq Falke, Imtiaz Merchant, Adil Khan, Aftab Alam Ershad Khan, Jaffer Sharif, Faiyaz Ahmed Chougale, Feroz Khan, Wasim alias Babuji, Abdul Mohammed Khan, Fatima Daud Merchant, Sabir Ali Mazhar Hussain, Abdul Kavi Mohammed Idris Shaikh and Mohammed Azam Abdul Kavi Shaikh.
He told the court that the approver, Mohammed Ali Shaikh alias Mohammed Chacha, had turned hostile and hence the prosecution was not able to prove its case against 15 accused.
The prosecutor said he would not disclose evidence against the prime conspirator and London-based music director Nadeem Akhtar Saifee at this stage because he was not facing the trial.
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