Bombay High Court allows music baron Ramesh Taurani to travel abroad

The Bombay High Court has allowed music baron Ramesh Taurani to travel abroad from March 1 till November end​ this year​. Taurani who is acquitted of all charges in the 1997 Gulshan Kumar murder case had moved the court seeking permission as ​the ​state government appealed against his acquittal which is likely to come up for hearing soon.

A division bench of Justice Ranjit More and Justice Anuja Prabhudessai allowed the application filed by Taurani saying that​,​ “The applicant was permitted to travel abroad on many occasions. The applicant has
complied with those orders and there is no breach of a single order. In above circumstances, we allow this application and permit the applicant to travel abroad.”

The police had alleged that Gulshan Kumar was murdered because of business rivalry and music baron Ramesh Taurani had paid Rs.25 lakh contract money to Abu Salem to kill Gulshan. However, the police could
not prove the conspiracy angle and Taurani and 17 other accused were acquitted in 2002.

Nadeem of the Nadeem-Shravan music composer team was in London at the time of Gulshan's murder and has not returned since then. The Indian government had sought Nadeem's extradition but lost the case in a
British court.

Convicted accused Abdul Rauf Merchant had abscond​ed​ while on parole leave. He was subsequently arrested by the Dhaka police for having invalid documents. He ​was brought back to India and is presently in prison. The appeal against the acquittal filed by the state andappeal filed by Rauf is likely to be heard soon.