Lucknow, March 17 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court here Tuesday listed the hearing in a fake passport case related to mafia don Abu Salem - also a key accused in the 1993 Mumbai blasts - to March 31.
Salem, who was brought to Lucknow from Mumbai by train in the morning, was produced before the CBI court in the afternoon in connection with a fake passport he had obtained using forged identities in the early 1990s.

“As the investigation officer of the case could not make it to the hearing owing to some official problems, the court has posted the matter for March 31,” Salem’s counsel Amir Naqwi told reporters after the hearing.

In the evening, Salem will be taken back to Mumbai where he is lodged in the Arthur Road jail.

A case was lodged against Salem in the city’s Hazratganj police station when the fake passport scam was unearthed after the 1993 Mumbai blasts.

“Case no. 114/99 was lodged against Salem in 1999 after it was revealed that over a dozen passports were obtained by him and his aides a few months before the blast,” a police official told IANS.

Salem had obtained a passport in the name of Akil Ahmed Azmi using a forged address in Bulandshahr, the official said.

“Earlier also the court has issued dates for his appearance and the last date was fixed in January. However, Mumbai Police expressed inability to produce him on earlier dates and Salem was finally produced in court Tuesday,” Naqwi added.