MCOCA can’t be applied in Chand murder case,says HC

The division bench of Justice A P Lavande and Justice S P Davare passed the order after noting that most of the arguments put forward by Shaikh’s counsel Taraq Sayed were not taken into account by the MCOCA court. The position was accepted by additional public prosecutor Ajay Gadkari. However,even as the judges quashed the order passed on April 5,2011,they refrained from making any opinion about the merits of the case.

“The majority of the contentions advanced by the counsel for the appellant (Shaikh) have not been dealt with while dismissing the application. There is no doubt that this court,being an appellate court,can also consider the submissions… However,considering that in the present case,the majority of the submissions have not been considered,we deem it approppriate not to deal with them,” the court said.

Sayyad Chand was shot dead on September 15,2010 near the General Post Office building in south Mumbai. Shaikh was said to be a rival of Chand in the illegal scrap and diesel pilferage business. The police claim that Shaikh had paid Rs 6 lakh to underworld gangster Chhota Shakeel for carrying out the murder.

Arguing for Shaikh,his lawyer had contended that most of the evidence as well as witness statements to book him under the Act were based on hearsay and could not be relied upon. He claimed that the prosecution had failed to prove any nexus between the organized crime syndicate and the accused. The lawyer pointed out that the two chargesheets against Shakeel put forth by the police to justify invoking MCOCA in the case do not mention Shaikh as an accused.

Gadkari,however,contended that the very allegation of Shaikh seeking the assistance of the gangster to carry out the murder was enough to invoke MCOCA.