TADA court hands over Brijesh Singh's custody to UP Police

Mumbai, Apr 29 (UNI) A Designated TADA court today handed over the custody of Brijesh Singh alias Bhiru, a close aide to fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, to Uttar Pradesh police to question him in a series of cases pending there.

Singh, who was lodged in Arthur Road Jail here for several months under the custody of Mumbai Police, is facing charges under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (TADA) act for his involvement in the 1992 sensational J J Shootout case.

TADA Judge D U Mulla today handed over Singh's custody to UP police after they moved a plea, seeking his custody to probe him in a murder case registered by Chube Pur police station of Varanasi in UP and various other cases.

Singh, an absconding accused in the shootout case, was arrested by Delhi police on January 23 this year in an extortion case of 2007. He was brought here by a city police team, led by Assistant Commissioner of Police Ashok Duraphe, after completion of police remand at Delhi.

According to the prosecution, on September 12, 1992, Shailesh Haldankar of Arun Gawli gang, who was admitted in a prision ward of the government-run J J Hospital, was gunned down by the henchmen of Dawood Ibrahim. It was for the first time that an AK-47 assault rifle was used by the underworld don for commission of crime.

Haldankar was involved in the murder of Ibrahim Parkar, brother-in-law of Dawood Ibrahim and husband of Haseena Parkar alias Haseena aapa.

Police had reportedly seized around 500 empty cartridges from the spot and several other weapons like AK-47 along with magazines and live cartridges.

The Mumbai police had booked 31 people in the case, but it was gradually short-listed, as some of them were killed in subsequent police encounters and in gang wars.

The TADA court had already convicted three persons -- Subhash Singh Thakur, Surya Rao and Shyamkumar Garikar -- for the offence.

Thakur was first to be awarded death penalty, which was later converted into a life sentence till death by the Supreme Court. Rao was sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment, while Garikar was sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment that was awarded by the apex court.

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