Kasab prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam is BJP pick for Mumbai North Central

Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, April 27

Illustrious lawyer Ujjwal Nikam, known for securing death penalties, including for the lone surviving perpetrator of the dastardly 26/11 Mumbai terror attack Ajmal Kasab, was on Saturday named the BJP candidate for the high-profile Mumbai North Central seat.

The BJP dropped two-term sitting MP Poonam Mahajan to nominate Nikam, famous for advocating capital punishment and for his line that “only the corrigible can be reformed”.

Nikam, who practices privately, has been the top choice in Maharashtra for several high-profile cases, including the 1993 Bombay blasts, Gulshan Kumar killing, Pramod Mahajan murder, Marine Drive rape case and the 2008 Mumbai terror attack among others.

Known for his dramatic delivery in courtrooms, Nikam, special public prosecutor in the Mumbai terror attack case, had come under fire from the legal fraternity when in 2015 he disclosed after the execution of Kasab that the terrorist had never demanded mutton biryani during his trial and that it was a story he scripted to deflect public attention from a sympathetic narrative that momentarily built up in the convict’s favour. Kasab was executed in November 2012, with Nikam gaining tremendous public trust for his deft handling of the sensitive case.

Nikam, who termed his nomination as a “pleasant surprise”, took over the Mumbai serial blasts case at the age of 39. After a protracted 14-year battle Yakub Memon was sentenced to death in the case.

By 2017, when he secured death penalty for Ankur Lal (26) who had thrown acid on the face of Preethi Rani out of professional jealousy, Nikam had managed six death sentences as a lawyer. He is also known for managing convictions in tough cases, including the Shakti Mills rape case in Maharashtra.

A law graduate from SS Maniyar College in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon, Nikam was born in a Marathi family and his father was a judge. Nikam, who also represented the Indian Government at a global terrorism conference in New York in 2010, was awarded the Padma Shri in 2016.

On Saturday, upon being nominated, he said, “This is a pleasant and surprising moment for me. I have been practising law and this is a chance for a second innings in the temple of democracy, Parliament. Politics is not a fight. It is social service,” Nikam said, thanking PM Narendra Modi, BJP chief JP Nadda and others for the opportunity to represent a seat held in the past by late Mahohar Joshi, incumbent minister Ramdas Athawale and sitting MP Poonam Mahajan.

Mahajan was dropped following organizational feedback, sources said.

Nikam will take on Congress’ Varsha Gaikwad.

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