Thaindian News

New Delhi, Sep 27 (IANS) The Portuguese Supreme Court has cancelled the extradition of alleged mobster Abu Salem to India but the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said it would challenge the verdict.

Salem had contended before the Portuguese court that his extradition should be cancelled as the conditions for this had not been met. However, this plea “has been rejected by the Supreme Court. Therefore, CBI is on a secure wicket,” CBI spokesperson Dharini Mishra told reporters.

She said the agency would approach the external affairs ministry on filing an appeal in Portugal’s Supreme Court challenging the decision.

Salem’s lawyer, however, expressed confidence the extradition would be overturned.

“His extradition could be revoked as conditions of the extradition orders have not been complied by the Indian side,” lawyer S. Pasgola told IANS in Mumbai.

Now, the Portuguese government will write to the Indian Government again seeking Salem’s custody, Pasgola said.

However, he declined to hazard a guess on when the inter-government procedures would be initiated or how long it would take.

Abu Salem and his girlfriend Monica Bedi, who were living in Portugal under a fake identities, were extradited to India in 2005. Salem face charges in various cases, including that relating to the 1993 Mumbai blasts, the Pradeep Jain murder case, extortions, fake passports, arms, ammunitions and explosives and other serious crimes in different courts around the country.

Earlier, he was lodged in Mumbai’s high-security Arthur Road Central Jail, but presently, he is kept in Taloja Jail in Raigad district, around 100 kms south of Mumbai.