Abu
Salem remanded to police custody till January 9
Mumbai:
A designated TADA court today remanded extradited don
Abu Salem to police custody till January 9 in connection
with the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blast case. The Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the TADA court here that
in view of the revelations made by co-accused Riyas Siddiqui,
it needed to interrogate Salem further. Siddiqui was arrested
by the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) of Mumbai Police for supplying
firearms to Abu Salem's henchman to kill Pradeep Jain in
1995.
The
CBI had obtained the permission to take Riyas Siddiqui into
custody to probe him on the serial blasts in Mumbai. Siddiqui's
role in providing arms to Salem's men to kill Jain surfaced
when the ATS was interrogating Salem in Jain murder case
of 1995. The ATS had brought to notice of the TADA court
that during its interrogation, Siddiqui had confessed to
his role in supplying arms to Salem's men to kill Jain,
and had also admitted to his role in 1993 blasts in Mumbai.
Earlier, on the last day of his police remand on January
3, Abu Salem had confessed to his role in the murder of
Pradeep Jain in 1995. He told ATS interrogators that Pradeep
Jain was murdered on the instructions of Dawood's brother,
Anees Ibrahim. This confessional statement was presented
before the TADA court on the same day.
Salem,
who was extradited from Portugal after protracted legal
battle in Portuguese courts on November 11 was under three
days police custody after he was brought from Bangalore
to Mumbai. He underwent a series of tests at the Forensic
Laboratory in Bangalore in connection with the Pradeep Jain
murder case. The Mumbai TADA court had permitted the ATS
team to take Salem, against whom the CBI is investigating
more than 40 cases, to Bangalore for conducting the tests.
Salem underwent a brain mapping, narco analysis and polygraph
tests. Salem is reported to have disclosed the names of
certain persons who were part of his financial chain of
collection and distribution of extorted money and other
information pertaining to his alleged role in the 1993 Mumbai
bomb blasts, besides his involvement in the murder cases
of Ajit Dewani and Pradeep Jain. Pradeep Jain, a builder
from suburban Andheri, was shot dead by assailants at his
office in March 1995. The murder was suspected to be culmination
of a tiff between Jain and Salem over the development of
a prime piece of land in Andheri. Jain owned the piece of
land, while Salem wanted him to sell it to another builder
at a nominal price. When Jain refused, he was killed.