Bootlegger murder case verdict on Wednesday

Sharjah: The final decision in the case involving 17 Indian men has now been moved to Wednesday due to a change in the Judiciary committee, Gulf News has learnt. The case was earlier to be decided this past Wednesday.

"They have been charged for trading and consuming alcohol," said defence lawyer Abdullah Mohammad Salman.

The 17 men were charged in the killing of a Pakistani man and the assault of three others in a bootlegging fight in Al Sajja Industrial Area in 2009.

Their death sentence was revoked by the Sharjah Appeal Court in September last year when the victim's family accepted Dh3.4 million in blood money (Diyyah). Dubai-based Indian businessman S.P. Singh Oberoi helped raise the blood money for the convicts to avert their death sentence and win the pardon of the family of the deceased.

However, later, technical errors were found as the court only heard the murder case and the charge of bootlegging remained undecided.