Bharat Shah's bail appeal hearing on Monday

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">new delhi: the first hearing of the bail plea of film financer and diamond merchant bharat shah by the supreme court, who was arrested in january last year for his alleged role in using mafia money for financing film <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">chori chori chupke chupke</span> will be held on monday.kapil sibbal will appear as counsel for bharat shah. the bail application was filed in the supreme court in december last year after it was denied by the bombay high court. "we have come to the apex court for its intervention and seek bail for my father. this is because we do not have faith in the state. the way things are going on they will try to convict even us. we are just asking for a simple bail. we are not running away. they can take the guarantee of our entire property and whatever other things they can," said bharat shah''s elder son rashesh b shah who is in the capital to seek his father''s bail. bharat shah, 50, who has a rs 2,000-crore diamond business and a rs 200-crore film financing business and have financed about 500 films so far, has been booked under section 3 (3) and (4) of maharashtra control of organised crime act, 1999. it was alleged that shah was dealing with gangsters and he was aiding and abetting gang activities relating to financing of bollywood films. there was also a charge of conspiracy to kill noted actor shah rukh khan. shah''s arrest came hot on the heels of nizim rizvi''s arrest on december 13, 2000. rizvi was the producer of <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">chori chori chupke chupke</span>. his assistant abdul rahim allahbax khan was booked six days later under section 120(b), 302 read with 115 of mcoca. rashesh considers the charges framed against shah as political vendetta but refuses to come on record about any party or individual. about the allegation that bharat shah conspired to murder shah rukh khan, he said that it could be best described as comical. "most of the films of shah rukh khan i believe are with my father. the high court has dropped the charges that there was any underworld financing to the film or conspiracy to murder shah rukh. but under the provision of mcoc there is no provision of bail. this is why the bail is not given, while the people think that bail gets rejected because police has enough evidence," said rashesh. he said, "initially the police stated that they have several phone calls of my father with shakeel and today, after one year, they have not been able to point out more than one and even in that the voice does not match." "further, in the charge-sheet there are 194 conversations and they have till today only furnished 30 conversations to us, that to after begging, pleading for long, after eight lawyers appeared for us including kapil sibal, manohar, ashok desai. my father has been denied a bail even on medical grounds," said rashesh to tnn. about the 194 conversations claimed to have been on record, he said a statement was made in the court that they were very sensitive conversations and it would be highly damaging if they were released. "people like sanjay dutt, salman khan, mansoor siddiqi, pankaj kharbanda, harish sugandh, venus company''s ratan jain have phoned sakeel," he said. "the high court has even said that it was best known to the police why the others are not arrested. i firmly believe this has been done to protect all these people." he said that the three major charges put against bharat shah had been dropped. "charges of extortion are dropped, it has been proven that finance of the film is ours and so even that charge has gone, shah rukh khan''s murder conspiracy has been dropped. still there is no bail" he said. "we are not allowed to meet him except during the visiting hours. home food is not allowed and even a simple blanket is not allowed and being because they fear that he will hang himself," said the worried son. director and producer mahesh bhatt is considered by rashesh as the only person who has come out openly in favour of his father. bhatt was accompanying rashesh to delhi when tnn met him. bhatt said, "this boy and his family are trying to press their point to the world at large about innocence of bharat shah. but somehow the state propaganda in mumbai has proved to be more successful and efficient. the media is listening to the state probably because bharat''s sons are not experienced enough to put their point aggressively. the silence of the family is being construed by the world at large as acceptance of the crime for which he has been blamed." he added that it was not for the first time that the state had framed an individual and much later conceded that it was a mistake. he cited the examples of the isro case, the suba rao case, the samba case - where individuals had been exonerated even after 25 years. bhatt further said that even in the case of nadeem it took several years to prove that he was part of a larger conspiracy and was paid a compensation of over rs 7.5 crore, but by then he was finished. bhatt said, "people fail to see that the state very aggressively does a pr exercise for its view points and claims that it has solved the problem of law and order. in this case, they say they have solved the problem of organised crime by making the world believe that bharat shah was part of organised crime and gives its own versions, which are concocted. the world is only too eager to believe the story of crime and glamour." "the state or the police do not have a clean past or trustworthy credentials for me to believe that it''s an unbiased investigation. i personally feel that bharat shah has been a victim of conspiracy. it''s a witch hunt," bhatt asserted. "the state has its own version, we have our own. let the apex court look into the matter. why should we beg for what is our right?" bhatt asked. </div> </div>