Extradition terminated, Salem does not want to be produced in court

Mumbai: Armed with the Portuguese High Court order terminating his extradition, gangster Abu Salem today pleaded for a direction by the TADA court to jail authorities not to produce him in any court till the conclusion of the proceedings in Lisbon. He also argued that the trial against him in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case cannot go on after the Portuguese court order. His lawyer Sabha Qureshi submitted the order passed by the Portuguese High Court which terminated his extradition, saying there was breach of agreement by India for slapping offences which attract death penalty. Capital punishment has been abolished in Portugal. [caption id=“attachment_96130” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Abu Salem in this file photo. PTI”]  [/caption] While submitting the copy of the order, Qureshi insisted that the Superintendent of Taloja jail be directed not to produce Salem in any court till conclusion of proceedings in Lisbon. TADA court judge G A Sanap asked the CBI to file its response to the gangster’s application on October 11. The court, however, dismissed an application filed by Salem in which he had claimed there was a threat to his life from CBI and Maharashtra Police, saying his apprehension was “ill-founded”. “Unless some material is produced that CBI or police has made any attempt or made a plan, the application cannot be accepted,” it remarked while disposing of the application. In his application to the court on September 22 (before the termination of extradition), Salem had said that CBI or the Maharashtra Police could implicate him in false cases or try to eliminate him in fake encounter while being produced before the trial courts as his petition was being heard by the Portuguese court “in order to sabotage my efforts to seek justice and uphold my human rights”. Salem further said that the CBI might level false allegation of trying to flee from custody while being produced in the court and register fresh case against him so as to hinder his chance of getting a favourable order from the court of appeal in Lisbon. The judge directed the jail authorities and the police to ensure that proper security is provided to Salem. Salem, a key accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts along with fugitive ganglord Dawood Ibrahim, and his girlfriend Monica Bedi, were extradited to India on November 11, 2005, after a tortuous legal process in Portugal lasting three years. Salem is to face trial in nine cases. PTI