Extradited gangster Abu Salem would submit his point of view before a Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) court on Tuesday on a Central Bureau of Investigation plea to separate his trial from the main case of 123 co-accused, including film actor, Sanjay Dutt, in the 1993 bomb blast case.
Complete Coverage: Abu Salem Extradited
Salem has engaged reputed criminal lawyer Niteen Pradhan to argue his case and shall make his submissions on Tuesday, defence lawyer Farhana Shah told PTI.
Seeking an early verdict on the bomb blast case, the CBI has urged the court to separate the trial of Salem from the main trial on the ground that the judgement had been delayed considerably. The trial had commenced in 1995 and the judgement was yet to be delivered, CBI submitted in a petition seeking separation of Salem's trial from that of other accused.
The prosecution was not in favour of delaying the trial any further, CBI prosecutors Ujjwal Nikam and Natrajan argued. The court had framed charges against Salem on March 18 under the provisions of TADA (P) Act, Explosives Substances Act, 1908, Explosives Act, 1884, IPC and Arms Act. Salem has pleaded not guilty.
The gangster, who was extradited from Portugal in November last year, has been charged with procuring arms and ammunition from Baruch in Gujarat and distributing them to co-accused, including Sanjay Dutt, in the second week of January 1993 before the Mumbai serial blasts.
According to the charges, Salem had delivered arms to the co-accused in pursuance to a conspiracy hatched by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and his brother Anees to carry out blasts in Mumbai. The Mumbai serial blasts on March 12, 1993, had claimed the lives of 256 people and injured 713.