By IANS,
New Delhi: A city court Tuesday framed charges against underworld gangster Abu Salem for allegedly making extortion calls to Delhi-based businessmen in 1998.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kiran Bansal ordered that charges be framed under Section 384 (extortion) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The court will now start recording evidence of prosecution witnesses Jan 11, 2010.
Earlier, Salem opposed the framing of charges on the ground that the Indian government did not mention his impending prosecution under harsher penal provisions while seeking his extradition from Portugal.
Salem, along with Romesh Sharma, the alleged frontman of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, were booked for allegedly making threat calls to businessmen for money.
A first information report (FIR) was lodged at the Hauz Khas police station in 1998 against Salem.
Salem was extradited from Portugal in 2005 to face trial in various cases, including the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts.