Almost quarter a century after Mumbai was rocked by the most dastardly serial blasts in sometime, once a small time driver hailing from UP’s Azamgarh Abu Salem now a notorious don has been handed a life imprisonment for his role in the terror act.
Salem has been convicted in the most deadly bombings where 12 explosions rocked Mumbai resulting in 257 fatalities and injuries to 713 others.
The TADA court pronouncing the verdict sentenced Feroz Abdul Rashid Khan and Taher Merchant to death, while Abu Salem and Karimullah Khan were jailed for life. One Riyaz Siddiqui will serve 10 years in prison.
After the six convictions in June, one died in prison before sentencing.
A clear link of Dawood Ibrahim has already been established in the matter.
The blasts were to avenge demolition of the historic Babri mosque in north India by Hindu hardliners in 1992.
Salem left his native place after college. Shifting to Delhi he started working as a taxi driver . In 1985, he came to Mumbai to earn. He worked as bread delivery boy , then at a garment shop. He also became a real estate broker who operated from Arasa Market.
It all started when Abu Salem supplied a consignment to Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt’s house who himself had been in jail in the case for a while. Born Abdul Qayoom Ansari, Salem went by the name of Aqil Ahmed Azmi alias Abu Samaan in Dawood Ibrahim’s gang for his good driving skills.
Salem never figured in the underworld criminal dossier, neither was he a suspect .
At the height of the investigation in April 1993 third week the crime branch picked up some D Company members from Andheri. The cops were not just perplexed about the discovery of Kalashnikovs and hand grenades but they wanted to blow the lid on how “Kala Saboon” aka RDX entered the city.
One of the gangsters spilled secrets of Dawood aide Baba Chouhan. When investigators started digging more about the Maruti Omni van carrying the weapons and explosives both Salem and Dutt were nailed.
Amidst several arrests including Dutt, Salem had already fleed to Delhi, later to Azamgarh and then Dubai.
Salem rose the ranks by introducing a strategy of hiring unemployed Muslim youth to come to Mumbai, execute shoot-outs and return the next day remaining untraced by Mumbai cops. The idea was no history meant no chance of getting caught or traced.
Salem is infamous for terrorizing the Bollywood film industry by extorting money and usurping overseas distribution rights. Salem is seen as a key figure in the Gulshan Kumar assassination. With his hands bloodied with several murders, extortion and other cases he was later arrested in 2002 in Portugal and extradited to India.
Abu Salem got in touch with the D gang via his cousin, one Saiyyad Topi and J K Ibrahim who worked for the Dawood gang. He was the official driver for the D gang from 1989 to 1993.
It is widely believed that Salem ran his underworld operation in the garb of a travel agency in Santa Cruz with J K Ibrahim, a man who worked for Dawood.
He finally parted ways with Dawood after being sidelined in 1998. People of note like Ajit Diwani, personal secretary to film actress Manisha Koirala, Aamir Khan, Ashutosh Gowarikar , Jhamu Sughand, Lawrence D’souza, Rajiv Rai, Rakesh Roshan and Manmohan Shetty have long been on his hitlist.
He was convicted for the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, and and over 50 other cases.
On 20 September 2002, he was arrested along with Monica Bedi by Interpol in Lisbon, Portugal.
Salem is currently lodged in Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail.
Abu Salem is said to be a billionaire gangster worth Rs. 55 billion. His cash and property have been valued at least Rs 10 billion, which divided between him and his wife, Samira Jumani. Salem’s investments in Bollywood and hawala rackets are estimated to be at least another Rs 30 billion.
A News 18 report, quoting CBI says Salem escaped the gallows because he had used the fake identity of a Pakistani national.
If reports are to be believed the mafia don now fears living in solitary confinement. making fervent pleas to keep him in some company, good or bad.
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