Ram Jethmalani: 10 interesting facts about India's finest criminal lawyer

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Ram Jethmalani, one of India's finest lawyers and a former union minister, died this morning at his home in Delhi. He was 95.

Ram Jethmalani breathed his last at 7.45 am at his official residence in New Delhi, his son Mahesh Jethmalani told PTI. Jethmalani was not keeping well for a few months.

He passed away a few days before his 96th birthday on September 14. Mahesh Jethmalani said his father's last rites will be performed in the evening at the Lodhi road crematorium in New Delhi.

Here are 10 interesting facts about India's finest criminal lawyer:

1. Born in Sikhapur of Sindh province, in present day Pakistan, on September 14, 1923 Ram Jethmalani had obtained his law degree when he was just 17. He started practicing law in Karachi until the partition.
2. Jethmalani, a six-time Rajya Sabha member, served as a Union Mnister in the United Front and NDA governments. He joined the BJP-led NDA ministry in 1998 and then again in October 1999. However, he quit the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in July 2000.
3. He contested against Vajpayee in the 2004 general elections from Lucknow constituency. 
4. Jethmalani was later elected as the president of Supreme Court Bar Association in 2010.
5. Jethmalani shot to limelight with his appearance in the sensational Nanavati case in 1959.
6. His high profile cases include Indira Gandhi assassination case, Harshad Mehta stock scam case, Ketan Parekh case, LK Advani's defence in hawala case, Jayalalitha's defence in disproportionate assets case, Kanimozhi's defence in 2G scam trial, Manu Sharma's defence in Jessica Lall case, Lalu Prasad Yadav's defence in fodder scam case etc.
7. He retired from the legal professional in September 2017.
8. In 1960s, he appeared in defence of a string of smugglers. He was bestowed the sobriquet ‘smuggler’s lawyer’ for defending Haji Mastan.
9. Most recently, he was in the news for sending Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal a Rs 1.5 crore bill.
10. He is survived by his son Mahesh Jethmalani and a daughter who is based in the USA. His another daughter Rani Jethmalani had pre-deceased him.