Music baron Gulshan Kumar murder accused acquitted

MUMBAI - A Mumbai court Wednesday acquitted one of the prime accused in the murder of music baron Gulshan Kumar, citing lack of evidence, his lawyer said.

The accused, Abdul Qayyum Shaikh, had been deported from Dubai in 2007 to face charges in the Aug 12, 1997 murder case and the March 12, 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case.

“Judge S.G. Kanbarkar of Sewri Fast Track Court held that the prosecution did not produce sufficient evidence against the accused and accordingly acquitted him,” lawyer Ram Pawde told IANS.

However, since Shaikh, 50, is still an accused in the Mumbai serial blasts trial, he will not be set free immediately, Pawde said.

Gulshan Kumar, an entrepreneur from Delhi who had launched the Super Cassettes Industries, was gunned down outside a temple in Andheri 13 years ago.