Ujjwal Nikam appointed special prosecutor in lawyer Shahid Azmi's murder case

Maharashtra government has appointed prominent criminal lawyer Ujjwal Nikam as a special public prosecutor in the case of the murder of lawyer Shahid Azmi who had represented Faheem Ansari in 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case.

A notification in this regard was issued by the state government on July 6, a police official said today.

Since Azmi was an officer of the court and the offence was serious, the crime branch had requested the government to appoint a special public prosecutor to conduct the trial, the official said.

Azmi was gunned down by members of Bharat Nepali gang in his office on February 11 at suburban Kurla.

Police arrested three contract killers allegedly hired by gangster Bharat Nepali to kill Azmi, investigating officer Ramesh Mahale said.

The trio - Devendra Babu Jagtap alias JD, 28, Pintoo Deoram Dagale, 25, and Vinod Yashwant Vichare, 32, - were apprehended from suburban Mulund a month after the murder.

Azmi was killed on the instructions of Nepali and his associate Vijay alias Baba Shetty who had paid Rs1 lakh contract money to the killers, according to the chargesheet filed by the police in May this year.