26/11 accused Fahim Ansari lawyer Shahid Azmi shot dead
Shahid Azmi (32), the lawyer representing Fahim Ansari, one of three men being tried in India for their role in the Mumbai 26/11 attack in 2008, was shot dead on Thursday.
Some unidentified persons barged into Azmi’s office in Taximen’s Colony in Kurla, north-east Mumbai suburb, just before 9 p.m. and opened fire at him.
Azmi sustained four bullet injuries and was taken to the nearby Rajawadi Hospital in a critical condition, where he died later.
Azmi, 32, represented Fahim Ansari, one of the key accused in the ongoing 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks trial.
At the tender age of 15, Azmi was arrested for violence during the communal riots that rocked Mumbai between December 1992-January 1993.
In 1992, Azmi was accused of plotting to kill Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray.
Charged under the now-defunct Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA), Azmi was awarded a five-year sentence in 1999, but was acquitted the same year by the Supreme Court.
When he was in jail between 1992-1999, he studied for a post-graduate course and after acquittal by the apex court, he studied for a law degree before entering legal practice.
Shahid, who was nephew of Samajwadi Party leader and Govandi MLA Abu Asim Azmi, had also appeared as defence counsel for the accused in July 11 Mumbai local train blasts.