I'll be victimised as I'm a Muslim: Abu Salem >From Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi, July 15 (IANS) Abu Salem, an alleged Indian underworld don currently being held in Portugal, has claimed that he would be victimised if he is extradited to India as he belongs to that country's minority Muslim community. Abu Salem Qayyum Ansari, who went by the assumed name of Arsalan Mohsin Ali and is wanted by New Delhi for terrorist acts, was arrested from his house in the Portuguese capital with his second wife, Bollywood starlet Monica Bedi, last year. Officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is working to get Salem extradited, said they planned to contest his claim, made in a written submission to a Portuguese court. "His written submission was forwarded to us by the external affairs ministry last week," CBI spokesman G. Mohanty told IANS Tuesday. Portuguese authorities passed on Salem's submission to India, seeking a response. A CBI official who did not want to be named said the agency had countered a similar contention made by starlet Bedi to block her extradition to India. The agency's response to Bedi's allegations was sent in a formal reply to Portuguese authorities last month. Bedi had also said the Indian president could turn down her appeal against any death penalty or life sentence for a period of over 45 years awarded to her. In response to Bedi's claims, the CBI had written: "India is a secular country and our courts are independent. No discrimination is shown to anyone on the basis of religion, caste, creed or sex. The objections raised are baseless." Bedi and Salem were arrested in Lisbon following an Interpol red corner notice issued at the behest of the CBI on September 18 last year. Their extradition trial is currently underway in Lisbon. Salem, the prime accused in the terror bomb blasts in Mumbai in 1993 that killed nearly 260 people, had also claimed he might face a jail term of over 25 years in India as he had been charged in various criminal cases. "We are preparing an answer and we are going to give our objections in writing. It would be on the lines of what we had written in our response to Bedi's claims," the CBI official said. He said Salem was making a desperate bid to avoid extradition to India, where he faces serious charges. Salem, however, would have to face charges in Portugal for forging his resident work permit and marrying a local girl on the basis of that document, before being extradited. CBI's formal extradition request has listed Salem's involvement in three cases the agency is probing, as well as four cases being investigated by Delhi Police and two by Mumbai Police. On January 9, the Indian cabinet decided that neither Salem nor Bedi would be sentenced to death if they were extradited. The extradition request was handed over to the Portuguese authorities on December 27 last year. --Indo-Asian News Service ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
