MUMBAI, July 14 -- Well-known lawyer Ujjwal Nikam, who has served as the Maharashtra government's special public prosecutor in many crucial cases, including the 26/11 terror attack and the 1993 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai, is among the four personalities nominated to the Rajya Sabha on Sunday. Although perceived as a BJP man, the 72-year-old has represented more Congress-NCP governments than BJP ones in sensitive cases since 1991. The 1991 Kalyan blast was the flamboyant public prosecutor's first major case, but it was the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai that shot him to fame. Other high-profile cases include the 2003 twin bomb blasts at the Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar, the murder of music mughal Gulshan Kumar, the 2006 Khairlanji Dalit massacre case and the Shakti Mills gang rape case in 2013. These created headlines not only in the state but also at the national and international level. Nikam takes pride in having grilled international terrorist David Headley to prove Pakistan's involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. He has also been criticised for admitting to lying about the apprehended terrorist Ajmal Kasab, who he sent to the gallows, being served biryani every day in jail. Nikam's reputation was such that in many such cases, victims and their families would demand that he represent them. The latest such case was the brutal murder last December of Beed sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, when the sarpanch's family insisted that Nikam appear as special public prosecutor. Ironically, the man arrested for the murder is allegedly the right hand of a BJP minister, who subsequently resigned in the face of public outrage. The opposition has raised questions not just about Nikam's nomination to the Rajya Sabha but also his renomination as special public prosecutor within days of him losing the Lok Sabha polls as a BJP candidate last year. The Congress on Sunday slammed the BJP, saying that Nikam's nomination was on the lines of two previous Supreme Court judges, one of whom became a Rajya Sabha MP and the other a governor after retirement. Lambasting the BJP and Nikam, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sushama Andhare raised a question: how would the prosecutor now do justice to the family of the slain Beed sarpanch when his family was arraigned against the powerful ruling parties? "But when a former Chief Justice could not rise above self-interest, then what is the point in shouting if Ujjwal Nikam ends up going with the flow?" she said. "The real issue is that the trust of people, including the Deshmukh family who naively believe that such individuals will deliver justice, is being murdered every single day." The Congress' chief spokesperson Atul Londhe said, "Nikam's nomination is an example of how the BJP is diminishing constitutional entities by misusing them for its own political gain. Nikam worked tacitly for the BJP and is now being rewarded for it. It is an attempt to gradually morph our democracy into dictatorship." Nikam was handpicked by the state BJP unit to contest the Lok Sabha elections last year from Mumbai North-Central. He was defeated by the Congress' Varsha Gaikwad by just 16,514 votes in the election that generally saw a very poor show by the BJP. However, a mere three weeks after his defeat, the BJP-led government reappointed him to represent 25 cases as special public prosecutor despite his being an official leader. The Congress and other opposition parties had lambasted the government for this. Speaking to the media, Nikam said he was being nominated from the President's quota and not as the representative of any political party. "I was told about the responsibility by prime minister Narendra Modi last night over the telephone," he said. "The BJP showed confidence in me by nominating me for the Lok Sabha elections last year, and I will try my level best to do justice to the present responsibility. I have not yet decided whether to continue with my court cases, as they are at various stages and I have yet to gauge how much time I will have to dedicate to parliamentary work."...