MCOCA court drops charges against four accused in Shahid Azmi murder case

A designated Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court dropped MCOCA charges levelled against the four accused allegedly member’s of Bharat Nepali’s gang, who shot lawyer Shahid Azmi dead nearly a year ago.

The court on Thursday giving out an operative part of the order said that there was no evidence in the chargehseet filed by the crime branch to show that pecuniary gains were made in the crime, a mandatory aspect for MCOCA charges.

“We argued that Azmi’s murder was an outburst of anger for he supported terrorists in several cases. The accused had no pecuniary gains to make. The court accepted our arguments,” said defence lawyer Pooja Bhojne.

Three months after the murder, the police had filed a charge sheet naming 10 accused of which four were associates of Nepali and were arrested.

All were booked under various sections of Indian Penal Code, Arms Act and MCOCA, Senior Inspector (crime branch). “As soon as the order copy is out, we will move the high court challenging this order,” said Azmi’s brother Khalid Azmi.

The chargesheet has put together 95 witnesses in the case.