By Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net
Weeks after advocate Rohini Salian was not appointed as Special Public Prosecutor in Mohsin Shaikh’s murder case, the family of the victim has now asked the Maharashtra government to let continue Ujwala Pawar as the special public prosecutor in the case.
Twenty eight-year-old Mohsin Shaikh was a Pune based IT professional who was killed by members of Hindu Rashtra Sena killed in 2014 when he was returning from a mosque after prayers.
The case took a strange turn when its advocate Ujjwal Nikam withdrew hiss position as the special public prosecutor in the case. Left clueless after Nikam’s withdrawal, the family asked state government to appoint advocate Rohini Salian as a special public prosecutor.
Even after Rohini Salian gave her consent to appear as special public prosecutor in the case on July 17, state’s home department did not take any action regarding her appointment. Even Mohsin’s father Sadiq Shaikh made several requests for the same. As per the records, Sadiq Shaikh has written total four letters dated June 16, July 12, July 18 and July 19 this year to the Maharashtra government, but none of them was replied to.
However, Ujwala Pawar had appeared before the Pune sessions court on July 26, the date of the case, representing the case as SPP. Now Sadiq Shaikh sees hope with the representation of Ujwala Pawar. Therefore he has asked state’s Home Ministry to let advocate Pawar continue as SPP on later dated July 26.
Sadiq Shaikh has also told informed the ministry that accused personnel are taking advantage of the absence of special public prosecutor. Sadiq Shaikh said, “Two dates have been passed already without SPP. Next date is on July 31, before we would like a confirmation of the appointment.”
Maharashtra action committee has been trying to meet the state’s Chief Minister for the past several days regarding the appointment of SPP. Sources inform that the meeting was made possible after the intervention of SP MLA Abu Azmi, after which CM Devendra Fadnavis gave assurance to appoint Pawar as Special Public Prosecutor. Sadiq Shaikh has also shown hope after Chief Minister’s assurance, and seek timely appointment of Pawar.