Mumbai Serial Blast 1993. (Express archive photo)

ON FEBRUARY 7, 2001, Hanif Kadawala, an accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, was gunned down at his Bandra office by three men alleged to be members of Chhota Rajan’s gang. Nineteen years later, there is some good news for Rajan — currently on trial for the murder after he was deported from Indonesia in 2015 — with a special court’s order on Thursday directing the CBI to place the entire evidence in the case before it.

Sources said that among the evidence CBI had gathered was a video recorded in the bathroom of the Mumbai city civil sessions court, where one of the acquitted accused in the case is seen speaking of the involvement of another gangster in Kadawala’s murder.

The CBI has told the court that it did not include this evidence in its chargesheet, as it was an extra-judicial confession made by an accused acquitted in the murder case. It also added that it had statements made by the acquitted accused’s accomplice. Rajan’s lawyers, meanwhile, alleged that his name was misused and added as a conspirator in Kadawala’s murder.

“Application is allowed… CBI to place on record the entire cases papers, reports, statements of the witnesses, etc collected during further investigation,” the special court said in its order on Thursday.

In 2015, after Rajan was deported from Indonesia, over 70 cases concerning him were transferred from the Mumbai Police to the CBI. These included the Kadawala murder.

Last month, Rajan’s lawyer Tushar Khandare had moved a plea before the special court seeking that the CBI be asked to place all the evidence before court that it had collected during its investigation of the case, including the alleged video and the statements by acquitted accused’s accomplice. The plea alleged that while the CBI conducted further probe after Rajan’s return, it did not place on record certain evidence, which was not in favour of its case against him.

In a chargesheet filed last June, the CBI had alleged that the murder was carried out by Rajan through his gang members. The agency, which had submitted as evidence interviews given by Rajan to the media, where he had said that he would avenge the victims of the blast, had alleged that Kadawala was murdered to “gain public sympathy”.

On March 12, 1993, 257 people had died and 713 sustained injuries in the serial blasts. Kadawala was allegedly asked by actor Sanjay Dutt to arrange for firearms for the safety of his family. He was later arrested for allegedly giving one AK-56 rifle to Dutt and helping him hide the weapon.

After his death, the Mumbai Police Crime Branch arrested three persons alleging that they murdered Kadawala at Rajan’s behest. While Rajan was declared an absconding accused, the three men were subsequently acquitted for lack of evidence.

An application by Kadawala’s family members, seeking that the entire evidence be placed before the court, is also pending.