The Bombay High Court on Thursday upheld the conviction of Abdul Rauf Merchant in the murder case of Gulshan Kumar, founder of T-series. Abdul Rauf Merchant, an aide of gangster Dawood Ibrahim, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2002 for Gulshan Kumar’s murder in 1997.The court also dismissed an appeal by the state government against the acquittal of accused Ramesh Taurani of Tips Industries. It has come as a sigh of relief for Tuarani who stated that he always believed that he was innocent. He also called the verdict in the case as the triumph of truth.For the unversed, Taurani was one of the accused in Gulshan Kumar’s murder case and his ordeal has come to an end after 19 years. The judgement was announced by a division bench of Justices Sadhana Jadhav and NR Borkar who acquitted from all charges.
Talking about the same, he stated, “I am relieved. I always knew I was innocent. This is the triumph of the truth. The appeal has been dismissed and my family and I happy and relieved. I was expecting the verdict. I had to go through a long ordeal that was not required. It has been almost 25 years and I have gone through a lot of trouble. I got my acquittal in 2002 but since then there have been so many appeals. The sessions court had given a detailed order so I felt that it was unnecessary to bring it up in the High Court. The judiciary is already burdened so I believe this was stretched too far.”Taurani also mentioned that the verdict has strengthened his faith in the Indian judicial system. “I have always believed in the Indian judiciary. After going through the torture for so many years, the judgement has come in my favour and I am really thankful to them,” he added. On 12 August 1997, the Indian music industry suffered a huge setback. Gulshan Kumar was brutally murdered in broad daylight. Music director Nadeem Akhtar Saifee (of Nadeem-Shravan fame) and Taurani were accused in the case. Taurani was charged of allegedly conspiring with Saifee by hiring Dubai mafioso Abu Salem to carry out the murder. He was also charged for paying Nadeem a sum of Rs 2.5 million to carry out the execution.