This Article is From Jan 05, 2011

Ten Indians jailed for murder in Dubai

Dubai: Eleven bootleggers, ten from India and one from Pakistan, have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from 10 years to life after being convicted for beating a man to death and burying his body in a shallow sandy grave in Dubai.

Two Indian men, MS, 24, accused of being the head of the bootlegging gang, and HS, 26, his deputy, were both sentenced to life at Dubai's Criminal Court of First Instance for killing a rival bootlegger identified only as "number 36", the National paper reported on Wednesday.

They attacked the victim with swords, machetes, pipes and wooden blocks in November 2008, behind the Samsung office in Jebel Ali area and beat him to death.

Eight other Indians were sentenced to 15 years in prison for offences related to the murder, while a Pakistani driver was sentenced to 10 years, the paper said.

The convicts denied the murder charges.

The defendants were not present in court on Tuesday to hear the verdicts.

The charge came after they were arrested for the murder, rape and torture of another two rival gang members on January 1, 2009, one of whom has been named as Abu Baker Nujila, the daily reported.

The judge on Tuesday adjourned returning a verdict on these charges until February 7.

"This was the strongest gang and after their arrest, increased security and police presence chased away all the alcohol bootleggers from the area," an investigating officer had said last year.

Investigators said fierce competition had emerged between alcohol bootleggers in the area. The killers said during interrogation that they had warned the victim against selling alcohol in their area.

Last year, 17 Indians were awarded death by a Sharjah court which found them guilty for the murder of a Misri Nazir Khan, a Pakistani national, near a Sharjah labour camp over bootlegging dispute in January 2009.

The 17 men last week turned down an offer to pay blood money under a proposed settlement to escape the noose, claiming they were innocent.
.