By IANS,
New Delhi : A city court Thursday issued a fresh warrant against underworld don Abu Salem after Mumbai Police failed to bring him before the court for hearing in a six-year-old extortion case.
Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Kaur directed the Arthur Road Jail authorities in Mumbai – where the extradited gangster is lodged at present – to bring him before the court May 29.
Salem and his other associates are facing a criminal case for an extortion call made to a city-based businessman Ashok Gupta in 2002 for payment of Rs.50 million as “protection money”.
Delhi Police, which also invoked stringent MCOCA charges against him in the supplementary chargesheet, have been forced to re-think after his lawyers approached the Portuguese Supreme Court accusing New Delhi of breaching the international commitment.
In an application, the Delhi government sought dropping of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) charges against Salem, who was extradited from Portugal in 2005.
He is facing criminal proceedings in three cases related to Mumbai blasts, passport cases of Lucknow and Hyderabad, three extortion cases and a conspiracy to murder case in Delhi, along with Pradeep Jain and Ajit Dewani murder cases in Mumbai.
The union home ministry last month reprimanded the Delhi and Mumbai Police forces for slapping additional charges against Salem as the country was dragged into a legal battle in Portugal for failing to adhere to the extradition conditions and the international commitment it made.