Assistant Sub-Inspector Shahbuddin Mulani, the prime witness and complainant in a jail alarm case against members of the Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Rajan gangs, was declared hostile on Thursday after he failed to support the case.

Public Prosecutor Eknath Dhamal, who declared Mulani hostile in the court, said, “He was one of the prime witnesses in the case, but kept on denying everything and left us with no choice. He is an important witness and his testimony would affect the entire case.”

Mulani is deputed at the Arthur Road Jail and is attached to the Local Arms Division of the Mumbai Police. Defence lawyer Jayesh Vithlani said, “Mulani did not identify his blood-stained clothes which were seized after he was injured in the incident, neither did he describe what had happened. The incident involved a scuffle between the two gang members and subsequently stone throwing at each other which injured Mulani.”

According to the prosecution, on August 25, 2005, Chhota Rajan gangsters Vicky Malhotra, Farid Tanasha, Shahji Joshi and Vinod Yadav were being escorted to their cell in the jail by Mulani when the members of the Dawood Ibrahim gang started pelting stones at them. The N M Joshi marg police registered a case of rioting under sections 143,144,147,148,149 of Indian Penal Code (All pertaining to rioting) and under Section 338 (grevious injuries) against the accused.

The police had then lodged the accused at the Arthur Road Jail and in 2005 all major associates of the Dawood Gang were also lodged in the same jail for their involvement in the 1993 serial bomb blast case. Since many of the accused were shifted to different jails after the judgment in the ’93 blast case, the court has separated the trial and only nine accused are before the court.