Abu Salem made us hear a murder's execution on call to scare us

Written By Pranali Lotlikar Chindarkar | Updated: Feb 26, 2015, 06:30 AM IST

Sunil Jain, brother of Andheri builder Pradeep Jain, who was killed by Abu Salem and his associates in 1995, at his residence

"A person like Salem does not deserve anything less than capital punishment. He's the most cruel man I have come across in my life," said Sunil Jain, brother of deceased builder Pradeep Jain.

"A person like Salem does not deserve anything less than capital punishment. He's the most cruel man I have come across in my life," said Sunil Jain, brother of deceased builder Pradeep Jain.

Sunil, while speaking to dna at his Juhu residence, said because he had taken on such a mighty powerful criminal, he used to receive threat calls until recently, but that didn't shake his determination of fighting for justice for his brother.

Sunil said, "Days before he attacked my brother, Salem had called us and had told us to stay on line till he himself didn't hang up. At first, we were confused and tried to figure out why he was asking us to do so; soon, we realised that he had just killed a man, who had refused to obey him. That monster had made us hear the entire murder on call. It was his tactic to create fear in us."

When asked to describe his experience while fighting against the underworld don, he talked about the regular threat calls he and his family had to deal with. There was a time when I really wanted to convince the court the situation we were in. Thus, I had pleaded with the court to conduct the trial for a day at my place. Accordingly, the TADA court was set up in my house and the entire day's proceedings happened there, with the court witnessing the atmosphere we were living in," he added.

Quiz him on his driving force, which pushed him to this level of getting the don behind bars, Sunil said he did not want another Pradeep Jain to be brutally murdered at the hands of a criminal. "I am sure my brother was not the only person who Salem had killed, but no one raised their voice against him. If someone had, my brother would still be alive. Hence, I fought the case and ensured that he gets what he deserves."