13 years after criminal lawyer was murdered, Bombay HC lifts stay on trial

The Bombay High Court has vacated the stay on trial in the 2010 killing of criminal lawyer Shahid Azmi and rejected a plea filed by an accused seeking a change of the trial court on the grounds of “bias”.

Azmi was shot dead in his office in suburban Kurla on February 11, 2010.

At the time of his death, Azmi represented many accused in the 7/11 train blasts cases, Malegaon 2006 bomb blasts cases, the Aurangabad arms haul case, and the Ghatkopar blasts case.

The prosecution case is that Azmi was killed at the behest of gangster Chhota Rajan.

The High Court had stayed the trial in September 2022 after an accused – Hasmukh Solanki – moved an application to transfer the case to another sessions judge.

A single bench of Justice P D Naik on February 7 vacated the stay order and rejected Solanki’s plea seeking transfer of the case from the sessions judge in Mumbai, currently conducting the trial, to another sessions judge.

Solanki had alleged bias by the present judge.

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