Senior advocate and Padma Shri awardee Ujjwal Nikam has been appointed the special public prosecutor in the sexual assault case in Thane involving two kindergarten students.
The police on August 17 arrested an attendant at the school in Badlapur, Thane for allegedly abusing two girl students of the kindergarten, aged three and four. As per the complaint, he abused the girls in the toilet of the school.
The principal of the school where the crime took place has been suspended with two other staffers. While residents and several locals protested against the sexual abuse on two children, the police arrested 40 people who will be presented in the court today (August 21).
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Given his experience in handling crucial high-profile cases, including the 1991 Kalyan bomb blast and the murder of T Series founder Gulshan Kumar, Nikam has been handed over the Thane sexual assault case.
Let us take a brief look at Nikam's tenure as high-profile public prosecutor.
Nikam played a crucial role in the conviction of Ravinder Singh in 1991 bomb blast which killed 12 and injured more than 60 people.
Nikam was the public prosecutor for the Mumbai serial blasts case in 1993.
Nikam also handled the murder case of Bollywood music producer Gulshan Kumar in which composers Nadeem-Shravan were co-conspirators.
Nikam was the prosecutor in the murder case of Maharashtra minister Pramod Mahajan who was shot dead by his brother Pravin Mahajan in 2006.
Nikam's arguments fast-tracked the hearings in the matter of terrorist Ajmal Kasab who was arrested for the 26/11 Mumbai attack. Nikam successfully presented details as the public prosecutor and argued for Kasab's death penalty. Kasab was hanged till death on November 21, 2012.
Nikam was also provided with Z-plus security when he had taken over this case.
Nikam was fielded as the BJP face against Congress's Gaikwad Varsha Eknath in Maharashtra in the previously concluded Lok Sabha elections. Even as the saffron party dropped the two-time MP Poonam Mahajan from Mumbai North Central seat and chose Nikam, the latter lost to the Congress candidate.