Mumbai: Slain gangster Farid Tanasha's wife identifies killers in court

Farid Tanasha inset was shot at his home on his own turf in Tilak Nagar in 2010Nearly seven years after alleged Chhota Rajan sharpshooter Farid Tanasha was shot dead in his Tilak Nagar residencersquos bedroom his wife and key eyewitness Reshma Tanasha 37 deposed before the court and identified the shooters on FridayAlso read 6 years after she saw him killed gangster Farid Tanashas wife untraceableTanasha was allegedly shot dead by two men at the behest of rival gangster Bharat Nepali in front of his wife and daughter on June 2 2010After the trial began and the sessions court issued summons to her last August Reshma was reported to have gone AWOLConfined himself to homeYesterday she told the court Tanasha worked for Rajan and had been jailed from 200508 in a Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act case After his acquittal he immersed himself in social work and helped out members of the Tilak Nagar Meghana Cooperative Housing Society which maintained the building he resided in she said ldquoHe rarely stepped outside the house owing to threats to his liferdquoReshma who is now based out of Delhi said when he did venture of his residence he was accompanied by six persons including a driver and a gunman She said he was home the night of his murderThat fateful night she said Tanasha she and their young daughter were in the bedroom of their 2BHK house A cousinrsquos motherinlaw was in the other bedroom the domestic help in the hall and another member of the household Arshiya in the kitchenAt 945 on June 6 2010 my husband our daughter and I watching TV in the bedroom and chatting I was massaging his legs when two boys barged into our bedroom They opened fire on my husbandrdquo Reshma told the court ldquoThe boys then ran away and I called up Zuber uncle Tanasharsquos close aide Zuber Jamdar and witness in the caserdquoShe then recalled how Jamdar who had left the house right before the killing rushed Tanasha to the hospital and her statement being recorded by the police laterPicks out shootersShe said during an identification parade on August 8 2010 at Taloja jail she had identified her husband killers Mohd Sakib Khan and Randhir Ashok Singh alias Nikhil from the lotWhile recalling the chain of events Reshma walked up to the dock where Khan and Singh were standing and identified them as the shootersAfter her statement was recorded Special Public Prosecutor Raja Thakare asked for police protection for Reshma Special Judge V V Patil granted permission for thisReshma was the 53rd witness whose statement was recorded in court Her crossexamination by the defence has been scheduled for February 22