MCOCA court stays execution of NBWs against gutka barons

Mumbai, Mar 1 (UNI) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today suffered a setback with the special MCOCA court staying execution of non-bailable warrants against gutka barons J M Joshi and Rasiklal Manikchand Dhariwal till further orders.

The CBI had moved for non-bailable warrants against Mr Joshi and Mr Dhariwal after Mumbai police commissioner A N Roy accorded sanction on February 23 to prosecute the duo under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) for their alleged nexus with the underworld. The CBI contended before the court that the two gutka barons were untraceable after the police commissioner accorded the sanction.

Subsequently, MCOCA court judge Ashok Bhangale issued NBWs on February 27 against five people including Mr Joshi, Mr Dhariwal, underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, his brother-in-law Hamid Antulay and associate Salim Sheikh.

However, the same court stayed the execution of the NBWs while observing that the CBI had ''misguided'' the court by stating that there was no stay on the case in a higher court.

Judge Bhangale stayed the execution of the NBWs after Dhariwal's counsel Adv Rajendra Shirodkar told the court that his client had challenged the court's order in the High Court which is likely to come up for hearing tomorrow. The CBI failed to prove there was no stay on the case.

Joshi and Dhariwal have been accused of supplying gutka-making machinery to Dawood Ibrahim's accomplices and assisting them in setting up a gutka production unit at Karachi.

The names of the gutka barons, for their alleged nexus with the underworld, had emerged following the arrest of Jamaruddin alias Jumbo in an extortion case.

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