M A I N   N E W S

Bharat Shah gets 1-yr RI, but will stay out of jail
Our Correspondent

Mumbai, October 1
Diamond merchant and film financier Bharat Shah, who was sentenced to one year of rigorous imprisonment for his alleged links with the underworld Wednesday, will not go to jail as he has already spent 14 months in prison.

He was arrested more than two years ago under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.

Though Shah was not guilty of criminal conduct, he was guilty of concealing evidence on Bollywood’s links with the underworld, designated Judge of the MCOCA court, Mr A.P. Bangale, ruled.

Shah’s other co-accused Nasim Rizvi and his assistant Abdul Rahim Allahbaksh Khan, were, however, sentenced to six years of rigorous imprisonment. The Judge also imposed a fine of Rs 5,00,000 each on Rizvi and Khan.

The Judge had found Shah guilty under section 118 of the IPC. 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 the MCOCA and charged with threatening Bollywood personalities. He was accused of being in league with gangster Chhota Shakeel. Shah was also accused of passing money to Mumbai’s underworld dons via the hawala route.

However, Shah’s lawyers argued that there was no 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 Bombay High Court. He was, however, granted bail by the Supreme Court.

The arrest of Rizvi, close on the heels of his film Chori Chori Chupke Chupke’s release more than two years ago unveiled Bollywood’s underworld links. After Rizvi confessed to his mob links, the police arrested his assistant Baksh and eventually Shah.

The high-profile diamond merchant and financier received bail after spending more than a year in Mumbai and Thane Central Jails under tough conditions.

Rizvi, a small-time producer of C-grade films for ten years, hit the big league with “Chori Chori Chupke Chupke” starring Salman Khan, Rani Mukherjee and Preity Zinta. It was alleged that Rizvi and Shah had coerced several of the top stars into acting in the film.

Among other things, the Mumbai police had released the transcripts of Shah’s telephone conversations with alleged Pakistan-based mobster Chhota Shakeel.

A number of Bollywood personalities, including Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Rakesh Roshan, Ratan Jain, Mahesh Manjrekar, Sanjay Gupta, Harish Sughand, Ali Morani, Anees Bazme and Mohammed Morani were questioned as witnesses. All of them, except actress Preity Zinta had turned hostile in the case.

The special court also directed that Rs 15.6 crore collected after the release of ‘Chori Chori Chupke Chupke’ be deposited in government treasury.