Ajit Dewani murder case closed, killer shot dead in encounter

Sharp shooter of the Abu Salem gang, Deepak Singh alias Deepu, who had murdered Ajit Dewani, former secretary to actress Manisha Koirala, in 2001 has been killed in a police encounter in Uttar Pradesh.

Mumbai Crime Branch informed a designated MCOCA Court in Mumbai last week that Deepu, who had absconded after getting bail, was shot dead by Vikramgarh police on July 8 last year.

Deepu and two others were escaping on a motorbike after robbing a women of Rs80,000 and killing her. Police asked them to surrender but instead they fired at police who retaliated killing Deepu, it said.

The Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court last week abated the case against Deepu, thus closing the Dewani murder trial. Earlier, the court had acquitted six accused as prosecution could not prove charges against them.

Dewani was murdered allegedly by members of the Salem gang after he refused to pay extortion money. The court had also discharged Salem in this case in October 2008 after the prosecution dropped all charges against him, including those under MCOCA, IPC and Arms Act.

The prosecution dropped these charges because the case was not mentioned in the extradition treaty under which Salem was brought to India. The underworld don was extradited from Portugal in November 2005 to face some criminal cases, including the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts.