The Gulshan Kumar murder trial, delayed by four years due to extradition proceedings initiated by Indian government in London against prime accused Nadeem Akhtar Saifee, would commence in a sessions court in Mumbai on Monday with the deposition of an eye witness to the crime.
The first witness to tender evidence before additional sessions judge M L Tahilyani will be Ramchandra Lavangare who saw three persons gunning down audio king Gulshan Kumar on August 12, 1997, outside a temple in suburban Juhu. Ramchandra, a resident of Jeet Nagar in Juhu, had filed the first information report with police. He is a trustee of the temple where the chief of T-Series Gulshan Kumar had gone to pay obeisance to the deity on the day of the shoot-out.
The examination-in-chief will be conducted by prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam and the defence team comprises Majeed Memon, Adik Shirodkar, Satish Maneshinde, Abbas Kazmi and Sayaji Nangre. The prosecution has cited 270 witnesses including film actor Bhushan Kumar, son of the late audio king Gulshan Kumar. The other star witnesses are actors Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan and Chunkey Pandey, film producer Boney Kapoor, playback singer Anuradha Paudwal and Shravan of Nadeem-Shravan duo.
The trial had been delayed because government had filed an extradition case in UK against the prime accused and music composer Nadeem Akhtar Saifee. The House of Lords in London recently discharged Nadeem from the extradition case.
Nadeem continues to be in London and the prosecution has shown him as absconding accused in records before the court. Seventeen accused are facing the trial.
Bureau Report