Abu Salem Complains of Breach of Extradition Agreement, Portuguese Authorities to Meet Him in Taloja Jail
Abu Salem, one of the accused in the Mumbai's 1993 serial bomb blast case was extradited from Portuguese in the year 2005.
Mumbai, June 8: The Portuguese government officials will be meeting gangster Abu Salem in Taloja jail, Thane, on June 12. According to a news report in The Mumbai Mirror, Salem has complained to Portuguese government that conditions put forth in the extradition agreement with India have been violated. Therefore, the Portuguese team will determine the truth behind the claims made by the gangster.
Salem has repeatedly complained to Portuguese authorities that their extradition agreement with India, which agreed to a no death penalty clause, has been violated. Hence, the Maharashtra state prison officials have received a letter from the External Affairs Ministry about Portugal’s wish to meet Salem. Subsequently, the Portuguese officials had suggested two dates for the meet - June 7 and June 12.
Abu Salem, a convict in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blast case, was extradited from Portuguese in the year 2005. He has also been punished with seven years of prison over a 2002 extortion bid on a Delhi businessman recently. He is already serving two life sentences for the 1993 serial blasts and the 1995 murder of builder Pradeep Jain.
BK Upadhyay, additional director general of police (prisons), was quoted as saying, "We have agreed to a meeting between officials from the Portuguese embassy (in Delhi) and Salem at Taloja Jail. We don’t know what they want to ask. The embassy contacted the ministry, which then wrote to us. Salem is in Delhi right now because of the pending cases there. Once he is brought back to Mumbai, we will organise the meeting.” Salem would return to Mumbai on Friday as per the reports.
The convicted gangster’s lawyer, Sudeep Pasbola, confirmed that he had raised a complaint about the alleged agreement breach. Pasbola was quoted in the report as, “His continued detention in India is bad in law. He has filed applications in European courts, and the Portuguese want to meet him in this connection."
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 08, 2018 12:27 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).