A special court on Tuesday rejected a plea filed by gangster Abu Salem, directing the Maharashtra jail authorities to give a provisional date for his release. Salem is currently serving a life sentence in two cases: the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts and the murder of a builder.
In July 2022, the Supreme Court ruled that Salem, who was extradited from Portugal in 2005, should be released after serving a 25-year prison sentence, as agreed to by the Indian government during his extradition. The special court dismissed Salem’s petition and agreed to the petition made by special public prosecutor Deepak Salvi for the CBI and the Supreme Court has given clear instructions that he can be released only after serving 25 years of imprisonment, so his petition cannot be rejected. will be allowed.
In a petition filed in a special court in Mumbai in October, Salem argued that he has spent more than 23 years in jail and wants a tentative date for his release and the concessions granted to him as per jail rules. A period of imprisonment, including his imprisonment as an undertrial, then as a convict.
The CBI has argued that he is not entitled to parole, which usually reduces the prison terms of convicts, as he will have to serve 25 years in prison from the date of his extradition to India in 2005, which will be in 2030.
Salem is currently in Nashik Jail. The detailed order of the court’s decision is yet to come.