A court in Pune Friday acquitted all accused persons, including Dhananjay Jayram Desai alias Bhai, the chief of the radical outfit Hindu Rashtra Sena (HRS), in a 2014 case of murder of 28-year-old Muslim techie Mohsin Shaikh.
A native of Solapur, Mohsin worked as an engineer at a private firm in Pune. During the communal clashes which spread after the circulation of objectionable pictures of Shivaji Maharaj and Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on social media, youths associated to the HRS had allegedly attacked Mohsin while he was going home with his friend Riyaz Ahmed Mubarak Shendure after offering prayers at a mosque in Hadapsar on the night of June 2, 2014.
After a few hours, Mohsin died while undergoing treatment at a hospital. His brother Mobin Shaikh had then filed a first information report (FIR) in this case at the Hadapsar police station.
As per Mobin’s complaint, “The assailants intercepted Mohsin and Riyaz at Satav Plot in Unnati Nagar around 9.15 pm. As Mohsin had a beard, a skull cap and was wearing a light green Pathani shirt, they attacked him with hockey sticks and banged a cement block on his head.”
The police had booked as many as 21 HRS activists, including their leader Dhananjay Desai, a resident of Parmar Bungalow in Paud, in this case. While one accused was known to be a minor, the other 20 were arrested by the police. All were later released on bail.
Defence lawyer Sudhir Shah said all accused, including Desai, were acquitted by the court of additional sessions judge S B Salunkhe.
Earlier, advocate Ujjwal Nikam was appointed as the Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) in the case following a request filed by Moshin’s family to the then chief minister Prithviraj Chavan. Pune-based activist Anjum Inamdar of the Rashtrapremi Kruti Samiti had written to then chief minister and the law and judiciary department on June 12, 2014 opposing Nikam’s appointment as the SPP in the Mohsin Shaikh murder case, claiming that the lawyer was close to Right-wing extremist groups.
Hussain Dalwai, then Congress MP in Rajya Sabha, had also opposed Nikam’s appointment in this case in his letter dated July 20, 2014 to Chavan. Meanwhile, Nikam too made a request for cancellation of his appointment as the SPP in this case and it was approved by the government in May 2017.
Then, on June 16, 2017, Mohsin’s father Mohammed Sadiq wrote to the then chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis, and the law and judiciary department seeking appointment of senior lawyer Rohini Salian as the SPP. The government, however, appointed then district government pleader Ujjwala Pawar as prosecution lawyer in this case. After her retirement, Dhaigude Patil argued the case. Mohammed Sadiq passed away following a heart failure in December 2018.
Inamdar, who is also the office bearer of the Mulnivasi Muslim Manch, said, “It is unfortunate that all the accused were acquitted due to lack of evidence. We will support Mohsin’s family in the legal battle further.”