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Shah gets one year, Rizvi, Abdul Rahim get six years RI
Mumbai, Oct 01: A Mumbai court on Wednesday sentenced to one year in prison film financier and diamond merchant Bharat Shah for concealing evidence on Bollywood`s links with the underworld.
Mumbai, Oct 01: A Mumbai court on Wednesday sentenced to one year in prison film financier and diamond merchant Bharat Shah for concealing evidence on Bollywood`s links with the underworld.
As Shah has already spent 14 months in jail, he will not be required to serve the one year imprisonment, designated Judge A P Bhangale ruled.
Both producer Nasim Rizvi and his assistant Abdul Rahim Allahbaksh Khan, who were convicted along with Shah on Tuesday, were sentenced to six years` rigorous imprisonment.
The judge also imposed a fine of Rs 500,000 each on Rizvi and Khan.
The judge had found Shah guilty under section 118 of the Indian Penal Code; Rizvi and Khan were found guilty under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act of forging links with the underworld to target film personalities for personal gains.
Co-accused and Dubai-based businessman Mohammed Shamshuddin alias Bhatija was acquitted.
Shah was arrested on January 8, 2001, under MCOCA and charged with threatening, with the help of the Karachi-based gangster Chhota Shakeel, actors to work in his film Chori Chori Chupke Chupke.
He was also charged with passing money to Mumbai`s underworld dons via the hawala route.
The prosecution had argued that Shah used underworld money to finance his films.
In this respect it produced as evidence 30 audiotapes containing Shah`s phone conversations with Shakeel.
The police also arrested Rizvi, who had produced Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, and Khan.
The defence lawyers argued that there was no conclusive evidence to prove that the voice was that of Shah and the tape transcripts were not admissible as evidence since the interception procedure was legally not correct.
Shah`s bail application was rejected more than seven times in lower courts and then by the Mumbai high court.
He approached the Supreme Court, which granted him bail.
Bureau Report
As Shah has already spent 14 months in jail, he will not be required to serve the one year imprisonment, designated Judge A P Bhangale ruled.
Both producer Nasim Rizvi and his assistant Abdul Rahim Allahbaksh Khan, who were convicted along with Shah on Tuesday, were sentenced to six years` rigorous imprisonment.
The judge also imposed a fine of Rs 500,000 each on Rizvi and Khan.
The judge had found Shah guilty under section 118 of the Indian Penal Code; Rizvi and Khan were found guilty under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act of forging links with the underworld to target film personalities for personal gains.
Co-accused and Dubai-based businessman Mohammed Shamshuddin alias Bhatija was acquitted.
Shah was arrested on January 8, 2001, under MCOCA and charged with threatening, with the help of the Karachi-based gangster Chhota Shakeel, actors to work in his film Chori Chori Chupke Chupke.
He was also charged with passing money to Mumbai`s underworld dons via the hawala route.
The prosecution had argued that Shah used underworld money to finance his films.
In this respect it produced as evidence 30 audiotapes containing Shah`s phone conversations with Shakeel.
The police also arrested Rizvi, who had produced Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, and Khan.
The defence lawyers argued that there was no conclusive evidence to prove that the voice was that of Shah and the tape transcripts were not admissible as evidence since the interception procedure was legally not correct.
Shah`s bail application was rejected more than seven times in lower courts and then by the Mumbai high court.
He approached the Supreme Court, which granted him bail.
Bureau Report