1993 Mumbai blasts convict held guilty in builder murder case

MUMBAI: A special TADA court today convicted Riyz Siddiqui in connection with the 1995 murder case of city-based builder Pradeep Jain.

Siddiqui is also convicted in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, sentencing for which is likely to take place on September 7.

"The court has convicted Siddiqui," said special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.

Special judge GA Sanap is likely to pronounce the sentence next month.

The court in 2015 had convicted extradited gangster Abu Salem, his driver and sentenced them to life imprisonment in the Jain murder case.

Siddiqui though put on trial earlier had turned approver and was granted pardon in 2006. However in 2008, after he did not divulge all the information, he was declared hostile and the prosecution sought to reject his pardon which was allowed by the court. After this, his trail was separated from that of Salem.

In the confession he had said he was present at the conspiracy meeting called by Salem and fugitive Dawood Ibrahim's brother Anees Ibrahim. Siddiqui had also narrated the entire plot of Jain's murder.

According to police, on March 7, 1995, Jain was shot dead by assailants outside his Juhu bungalow after he allegedly refused to part with his huge property to Salem.

Nikam said this is for the first time in the state that an accused, who was granted pardon, has been convicted.