Two acquitted in 1989 Nusli Wadia murder attempt case

A special CBI court here on Thursday acquitted two accused in a 1989 case pertaining to an alleged attempt on the life of businessman Nusli Wadia.

The accused, Ivan Sequeira and Ramesh Jagothia, were acquitted for want of evidence by special judge S P Naik Nimbalkar.

The two had been booked for conspiring to kill the industrialist.

Advocate Wahan Khan, who represented the accused, told PTI, “The court held that the prosecution miserably failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.” In 2003, the court had charged four persons – Kirti Ambani, Arjun Babaria, Ivan Sequeira and Ramesh Jagothia – for “criminally conspiring to murder Wadia, then the chairman of Bombay Dyeing”.

Kirti Ambani and Babaria died during the trial.

A first information report (FIR) was registered on July 31, 1989, for allegedly conspiring to kill Wadia due to some business rivalry.

The Maharashtra government transferred the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on August 2, 1989, but the trial began only in 2003.