An acquittal in Mumbai

Film financier Bharat Shah walks out a free man thanks to a special court judgment acquitting him of the charges of aiding and abetting underworld activities.

in Mumbai

THE diamond merchant and film financier Bharat Shah, charged with aiding and abetting underworld activities under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was "given the benefit of the doubt" and acquitted of the charge by a special court in Mumbai on October 1. Shah's exoneration has come as a huge setback for the Mumbai Police, which showed the courage to take on one of the city's most influential men; it has also affected attempts to break the Bollywood-underworld nexus.

However, the court held Bharat Shah guilty under Sections 118 and 387 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on the lesser charges of deliberately concealing information from the police about film producer Nazim Rizvi's and underworld gangster Chota Shakeel's business as well as extortion plans. Shah, who knew about the duo's list of targets, including several high-profile figures in the Hindi film industry, was sentenced to a year's rigorous imprisonment. But this was hardly a reward for the police, who believed they had ample evidence of Shah's underworld dealings. Moreover, designated Judge A.P Bhangale ruled that since the diamond merchant had already spent 14 months in jail, he could set off that time against the one-year sentence.

What was perhaps even more humiliating for the police was that the court rapped them for their "shoddy investigations" and inaccurate evidence in the Shah case. Judge Bhangale, in fact, described the errors made by the prosecution as "inexcusable". He said the cassette that contained a recording of the financier's conversations with Shakeel could not be admitted as evidence owing to procedural lapses. There had been some technical glitches in the panchnama (inquest report) done to confirm the contents of the tape. The panchnama had mentioned that the cassette contained two voices (Shah's and Shakeel's) when it actually had Rizvi's voice as well. This tape contained the most damning evidence against Shah and was perhaps the only evidence that linked Shah to the underworld. Since the Judge felt it could not be used as proof, the case against Shah weakened. Through the 15-month trial period, lawyers had said that the tape issue would be the deciding factor in the case. While defence lawyers consistently alleged that the tapes were tampered with or even fabricated, Public Prosecutor Rohini Salian argued that the accuracy of the taped conversation was "beyond doubt".

THE Mumbai Police had begun investigating Shah's activities in December 2000, primarily his role in financing Rizvi's film Chori Chori, Chupke Chupke on behalf of the Karachi-based gangster Shakeel Ahmad Babu alias Chota Shakeel. The well-connected businessman remained unconcerned about the investigations until his arrest in January 2001, when the police confronted him with taped conversations that he had had with gangsters Dawood Ibrahim and Shakeel. The police had recorded the conversations in a surveillance operation that lasted over two months. In one conversation, according to the police, Shah and Shakeel discuss means to launder Rs.75 lakhs extorted from a Mumbai businessman; in another, Dawood Ibrahim discusses financial investments in the Mumbai stock market with Shah (Frontline, February 2, 2001). The most incriminating evidence was the conversation in which Shakeel talks to Rizvi about his ownership rights of Chori Chori Chupke Chupke. Adding another incriminating piece of evidence was Rizvi's confessions after being arrested in December 2000. Shah was booked under Section 3(3) and (4) of MCOCA, which deals with conspiring with criminal syndicates and possessing unaccountable wealth on behalf of their members.

With such damning evidence against him, there appeared little that Shah could do to deny his involvement. Shah served his time in jail, though most of the period was spent in hospital as he was "suffering" from a heart ailment. In April 2002, after three rejections, Shah's bail application was finally accepted. From then onwards, the tide began to turn in his favour. The diamond merchant's influential friends, such as those in the Shiv Sena, reportedly came to his rescue. His links with the Thackeray family, particularly Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray's daughter-in-law Smita Thackeray, is well known. Shah has financed a film produced by her. Except for Bollywood actress Preity Zinta, all the 14 witnesses, including film stars Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan and film producer Rakesh Roshan, turned hostile. Nobody in the film industry was willing to come in the open against Shah, who was financing several big-budget productions.

All through his trial, Shah said he was innocent and that he was a "clean man". He even claimed that he barely knew Rizvi. However, later he could not explain why he gave Rizvi crores of rupees without collateral. Shah insisted that the police were making him a scapegoat in their quest to establish links between the underworld and the film industry.

"That he is free is not a surprise," said a lawyer. "But how he managed it is the question." The Public Prosecutor had meticulously built up a case against the accused, he said. She had examined 76 witnesses (of whom 14 later turned hostile) and relied on 17 of the 32 taped conversations. She had argued convincingly about Shah's links with the underworld and his ways of browbeating stars to sign contracts. "From the beginning, we knew it may be tough to establish a definitive link between Shah and Shakeel. The inaccurate tape issue seems to have gone in his favour," said the lawyer. Shah had a battery of top criminal lawyers representing him.

The Mumbai Police, however, believes the case has reduced the number of threats that actors, producers and directors had been getting from the underworld. That in itself is a victory, it feels. Besides, Rizvi has been convicted under the MCOCA to a six-year jail term.