The Delhi High Court on Friday allowed the police to drop the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA) charge in an extortion case against gangster Abu Salem, whose extradition order to India has been quashed by the Portuguese supreme court owing to non-observance of extradition terms here.
While allowing the police to file a plea requesting dropping of the MCOCA charge, justice VK Shali said, “The order dated August 28, 2009, passed by the designated lower court is set aside and the state is permitted to withdraw the MCOCA charges.”
The Delhi HC judgement assumes significance as it would help the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in pursuing the Salem’s extradition case before the Constitutional Court in Portugal, where the probe agency have suffered a setback in judicial proceedings. In fact, the police sought the dropping of MCOCA charge after the Court of Appeal in Lisbon terminated the don’s extradition for breach of the terms by India.
Reacting to the HC order, Salem’s counsel MS Khan said it would not impact proceedings in the Portuguese Constitutional Court, as the authorisation of the extradition has already been terminated. “This order has now become inconsequential,” added Khan. To secure Salem’s extradition, India had given an executive assurance that he would be awarded neither death penalty nor a jail term exceeding 25 years nor any fresh charges would be invoked against him.
The Portuguese Constitutional Court had on March 12 stayed the order of its Supreme Court on the alleged violations by New Delhi, which allegedly violated extradition terms by slapping new charges, entailing death penalty on conviction, on Salem.
Salem along with his girlfriend Monica Bedi, a Bollywood starlet, was detained in Portugal on September 18, 2002, and handed over to India on November 11, 2005, to face trial in eight cases, including the 1992 Mumbai serial blasts case.
