Police gets TADA court's nod for custody of Salem attacker

The special TADA court today granted permission to the city police to take custody of Mustafa Dossa, an alleged member of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim gang, who is now lodged in the Thane jail, in connection with the attack on extradited gangster Abu Salem.

The city police's crime branch, probing the attack on Salem inside the high security Arthur Road jail on Saturday, approached the TADA court seeking Dossa's custody in the case.

The court's magistrate ST Mahajan gave permission to the police to take custody of Dossa, who will formally be arrested in the Salem attack case by the crime branch and produced before a metropolitan court tomorrow, officials said.

42-year-old Salem, a key accused in the 1993 serial blasts and facing trial in this case,was allegedly attacked by Dossa and his associate Abdul Qayyum Shaikh with a sharp spoon on Saturday outside their barrack following a heated argument.

The next day, Salem was shifted to the Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai, while Dossa, who is also facing trial in 1993 blasts case, was transferred to the Thane central prison for security reasons, police said.

An FIR was lodged against Dossa and Qayyum under sections 307(attempt to murder), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC with the NM Joshi Marg police station.

Salem had been lodged inside the Arthur Road jail since his extradition from Portugal in 2005 and is facing trial in nine cases, including two murders.

Dossa, alleged to be a close aide of Dawood, was deported from Dubai in March 2003. Dossa is accused of having supervised the landing of weapons and explosives in Maharashtra's Raigad district prior to the explosions on March 12, 1993, which killed 257 persons and injured several others.