Bombay HC Grants 3-Month Remission to Convict in 1999 Milind Vaidya Attack Case

The Bombay High Court has granted a three-month special remission to Mohammed Zuber Kasam Shaikh, a Chhota Shakeel aide serving a life sentence for his involvement in the 1999 firing on former Mumbai mayor Milind Vaidya at Mori Road that left three people dead.

A division bench of Justice Bharati Dangre and Justice Manjusha Deshpande ruled that the Maharashtra government's 2017 policy granting three months of special remission did not exclude convicts involved in grave offences. The court noted that Shaikh could not be denied the benefit, which was announced to mark Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s 125th birth anniversary, solely because of the seriousness of his crime.

The attack occurred late on the evening of March 4, 1999, when Shiv Sena leader Vaidya was sitting with party workers in an open shed at Mori Road. Three individuals seated in a car approached the group and opened fire using automatic weapons, killing three people and injuring seven others, including Vaidya. Shaikh was one of the assailants who fired an AK-56 rifle at the group.

Shaikh was arrested on June 2, 1999. While he was initially sentenced to death along with other accused, the Bombay High Court later acquitted him. The Supreme Court subsequently restored his conviction in 2009 and sentenced him to life imprisonment, categorising his term at 28 years with remission.

Shaikh approached the high court through advocate NN Gawankar after the state government informed Nagpur Central Jail that he was not entitled to the special remission. The bench observed that the government resolution lacked any provision allowing authorities to exclude prisoners on the basis of crime gravity.

Noting that Shaikh had served 27 years and nine months in prison by the time he approached the court, the bench directed jail authorities to take immediate steps to release him if his sentence stands completed after calculating the three-month remission.