Abu Salem will not be taken to the national capital on Wednesday as a special court in Mumbai stayed the transfer of his custody to Delhi Police after his lawyers submitted that the extradited gangster faces threat to life. Salem's lawyers, who moved an application before TADA court Judge P D Kode, claimed that proper arrangements were not made for the gangster's travel to Delhi and that he faced threat to life.
"The Special Cell of the Delhi Police has sent a rail ticket for Salem's travel to Delhi. The train takes 36 hours to reach Delhi and it can have adverse impact on his health as Salem has back ailments. Moreover, no personnel from their (Delhi Police) side was ready to accompany him during the travel," Salem's lawyer Ashok Sarogi said.
The Delhi Police, however, rubbished the lawyer's arguments saying Salem, a key accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, was to be brought by the Mumbai Police and not by them as it was a jail-to-jail transfer.
"We will move the court in Mumbai again with the production warrant," Joint Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Karnal Singh told PTI.
Kode had last week given permission to the Special Cell of the Delhi Police to take Salem to the national capital where he was to be produced before a court on February 8 in connection with two extortion cases dating back to 1998 and 2002.
The gangster -- extradited from Portugal in 2005 � is facing trial in eight cases in the country. However, barring the 1993 blasts, charges have not been framed against him in any other case.
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