Mumbai: Court says offence not proved beyond doubt, clears 2 in Sajid Nadiadwala robbery

MUMBAI: Almost 14 years after film producer Sajid Nadiadwala and his wife were robbed at gunpoint at their Andheri residence, a sessions court has acquitted two men, observing that the prosecution had failed to prove their offence beyond reasonable doubt.
The duo, Anis Khan (39) and Ajagar Khan (46), had allegedly taken away Rs 10 lakh in cash and ornaments worth Rs 40 lakh.They have been out on bail. Prabhat Tripathi, the security guard of the Nadiadwalas who was the key accused, died during the pendency of the case. Hence, the case against him was abated this September.
Nadiadwala and his wife deposed in court and had even identified Tripathi. The film-maker also said he had received the recovered gold ornaments and cash.
"The contents of the FIR clearly reveal that it was lodged by the complainant, Sajid Suleman Nadiadwala, against accused No. 1 (Tripathi) only. Nadiadwala's evidence clearly reveals that he has made all the allegations only against the accused No. 1. The complainant has not deposed anything against accused Nos 2 and 4 (Anis and Ajagar)," the sessions court said.
The trial against another accused, Shivchand Mourya, was separated.
It was the prosecution's case that Tripathi and Mourya were deployed as security guards at the Nadiadwala residence. On January 9, 2009, Nadiadwala and his wife returned from a party at 2am. It was alleged that Tripathi, on night duty, entered the flat with a revolver and threatened the couple. He then allegedly ordered them to take out all the jewellery and cash kept in the safe. Unnerved, Nadiadwala followed the instructions. Thereafter, Tripathi allegedly made Nadiadwala tie his hands with shoe laces lying nearby, while he tied the wife's hands. It was further alleged that the guard removed the SIM card of one of their mobile phones and the battery of the cordless phone in the house. Pointing the revolver at Nadiadwala's wife, he threatened to kill them before pushing both of them into a bathroom and fleeing the place.
It was alleged that during the investigations, Rs 1.07 lakh in cash was recovered from Tripathi, while jewellery weighing 2.1kg, Rs 4.40 lakh in cash, an LCD TV, a .38 revolver, two .38 live cartridges and two 9 mm live cartridges were seized on the basis of information provided by Anis. It was further alleged that Rs 2 lakh in cash was seized from Mourya.
During the course of the probe, it was revealed that the weapon used in the crime was provided by Ajagar on the suggestion of Anis as part of the conspiracy.
Besides the Nadiadwalas, 14 other witnesses deposed in the case. The film producer had also identified the revolver and the shoe laces used in the crime.
The court, however, said there was no evidence to show that Anis had provided the gun to Tripathi.