Justice Tahaliyani hails from Gondia district in Maharashtra. He completed his Law degree from Nagpur.He was also the judge in the infamous Gulshan Kumar murder case. Coincidentally, Special Public Prosecutor in the 26/11 case, Ujjwal Nikam, was the prosecutor and Abbas Kazmi was the defence lawyer in that case.Tahiliyani was also a special judge assigned to handle CBI cases.In 1987, he became the magistrate at the Bandra Metropolitan Court; he was appointed as Additional Sessions judge in the Mumbai Sessions Court in 1997. In 2009, Tahiliyani was appointed as the judge in the 26/11 trial.Dedicated judge he is, Tahiliyani along with his staff worked through the Diwali vacations and didn't take time off even when there were no court hearings. He would come to finish even the administration work related to the case.People who have seen Justice Tahiliyani closely say that he was very keen on the trial getting completed as soon as possible.
Had the police reached in time to provide help to Additional Commissioner of Police Sadanand Date who fought a pitched battle with terrorists with his team at Cama Hospital, the result would have been different...there has been some delay
– M. L. Tahaliyani
