Mumbai:
Shahid Azmi, the lawyer who defended 26/11 Indian accused Fahim Ansari, was shot dead in his office on Thursday evening. Shahid, the nephew of Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi, had defended many suspected terrorists and had been threatened earlier by the underworld for defending them.
Eyewitnesses told the police that Shahid was in his Kurla office when three assailants came in and pumped four bullets at point blank range.
"Those who killed him must know that Shahid died a martyr's death," Shahid's brother Rashid Azmi.
His family said underworld don Chhota Rajan's gangmembers had in the past threatened Shahid as he was defending accused in terrorism-related trials, like the 7/11 train blasts, the Ghatkopar blast, and other cases under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) and Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA).
But this isn't the first time lawyers have been attacked.
In 2005, senior advocate Majeed Memon was shot at outside his house, and former Chhota Rajan aide Ravi Pujari had then claimed responsibility for it. Memon escaped unhurt but Shahid's death has numbed the legal fraternity.
"I am scared. In fact the entire legal fraternity in Mumbai is scared after Shahid's death," said Ejaz Naqvi, another 26/11 lawyer.
The legal fraternity is shocked and horrified after this cold-blooded murder. Though it's still not clear why he was shot dead, the question lawyers here are asking is was he murdered just because he was defending suspected terrorists in blast cases?