Hope floats for '93 riot victim, whose neighbour tried to kill him

For the second time in 10 months, Ibrahim Haji Rahimtulla, a tabelawala from Ghatkopar, identified in court, the people who had attacked his house in the 1993 Mumbai riots.

For the second time in 10 months, Ibrahim Haji Rahimtulla, a tabelawala from Ghatkopar, identified in court, the people who had attacked his house in the 1993 Mumbai riots. These were not ordinary accused: leading the mob was Shivaji Kadam, then a prominent Shiv Sena leader.

fearless: Ibrahim Haji with his wife Sultana. PIC/DATTA KUMBHAR

Ibrahim had named them soon after the incident took place on January 10, 1993, but the police closed the case. The case was reopened after the Srikrishna Commission Report mentioned the incident as an example of 'unusual alacrity' with which the police closed cases where local Shiv Sena leaders were named.

"Though Shivaji Kadam was a known Shiv Sena leader, no investigation appears to have been carried out and the case was classified in 'A' summary," read the report (Vol II, Para 13.18). This remark made the Special Task Force, set up to act upon the Commission Report, reopen the case in 2001. It finally reached the special magistrates' courts set up to try the '92-'93 riot cases last year.

That was the first time, Ibrahim and his wife Sultana identified Kadam and his associates in court. However, the case was transferred to the sessions court where last week, the couple again identified the accused.

Incidentally, in only three of the 83 cases tried by the special courts, did victims identify the accused in court.
Though visibly nervous before stepping into the witness box, the 53-year-old stuck to his testimony even during cross-examination, as he had in the magistrate's court last year.

What happened that night in 1993
According to Ibrahim's testimony, he and the accused were chatting outside his house that night. Later, the accused told him to go in and sleep. Soon after Ibrahim went in, petrol bombs were thrown into his house, which burnt his wife's arm and shoulder. Trying to save her, Ibrahim also sustained burns. From the broken wire mesh on the top of his window, he saw the accused throwing these bombs. He also saw them pour a liquid outside his home, which immediately caught fire.
Ibrahim and his family took shelter with a neighbour and in the morning, he took his wife to Rajawadi Hospital, Ghatkopar.
Ibrahim still stays in the same area, Parsiwadi, that he used to, and the accused continues to be his neighbour.