Farid Tanasha murder: MCOCA court convicts 11

A special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court presided over by judge Shridhar Bhosale, held all 11 accused guilty in the Farid Tanasha murder case, on Wednesday. The court sentenced six to life imprisonment and five others to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment under section 3(2) of the MCOCA, for being members of an organised crime syndicate and aiding an offence. A fine of Rs 5 lakh fine has been imposed on each.

Farid Tanasha was allegedly shot dead by two sharpshooters at his residence in Tilak Nagar in suburban Chembur. The police claimed that rival gangster Bharat Nepali ordered for Tanasha's killing at the behest of builder Dattatray Bhakre. The Mumbai police had arrested Jafar Khan alias Abbas(34), MohdShakib Khan (31), Raviprakash Sinh alias Twinkle(34), Pankaj Sinh(30), Randhir Sinh alias Nikhil(33), Mohd Rafiq Shaikh alias Shankar (36), Dattatray Bhakare (52), Ravindra Varerkar (50), Vishwanath Shetty (50), Rajendra Chavan (49), Dinesh Bhandari alias Lalji (41) for their active involvement in the case.

Special public prosecutor, Raja Thakre examined 84 prosecution witnesses, two court witnesses, and two defence witnesses. Of the 88, 11 turned hostile. However, it was the statement of the deceased wife which helped the prosecution get justice.

Advocate Thakre while speaking to DNA said, "It was a classic case of criminal conspiracy and contract killing. Internal conversations coupled with locations and eyewitness helped the prosecution to prove its case. Also, the fact that Bhakare paid Rs 90 lakhs to the accused proves the motive in the case."