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Bharat Shah to move special
court for bail: PTI

Since Shah has been given a copy of the first information report and remand papers with major portions eclipsed, he is in a better position to argue for bail, his lawyer Vibhav Krishna told PTI.

Shah will be produced before the court for remand along with Naseem Rizvi, producer of the film Chori Chori Chupke Chupke and his assistant Abdul Rahim Allah Baksh, who have been held under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.

This is for the first time that all three accused in the case will be produced together for extension of their remand. Shah has been remanded to police custody while the others are in judicial custody.

The police have interrogated Shah and seized documents from his premises. But they are tight-lipped on whether the probe against him had concluded.

The police have charged Shah under Section 3(2) of MCOCA, which deals with abettment of an offence committed by an organised crime syndicate. He also faces the charge of criminal conspiracy under Section 120-b IPC.

The police claim to have recorded telephonic talks between him and Karachi-based gangster Chhota Shakeel which reveal the Bollywood-underworld nexus. They have also recorded telephonic talks between Rizvi and Shakeel which allegedly disclose the links between the duo.

The police alleged that Abdul Rahim acted as a conduit between them and that he was Shakeel's man in Bollywood.

Rahim is not represented by any lawyer.

The police have also alleged that Chori Chori Chupke Chupke was financed by Shakeel.

On the other hand, Shah has staked claim on negatives seized by the police and urged that he had the world trade rights over the movie in lieu of Rs 120 million financed by him.

The court will hear 13 distributors, appointed by Shah, before giving its ruling on the lawful custody of the seized negatives on January 30. The judge has decided to hear the distributors because third party rights were created after they advanced money, which has gone into film production.

The court has directed the Thane jailor to go in for x-ray and other treatment recommended for Rizvi who suffered from spondylitis during interim interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate for alleged hawala deals.

The ED had interrogated him on January 17-18 and has sought his custody for two more days on January 29 and 30, depending on his condition.

The Complete Coverage: The Bharat Shah Case

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