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Jake Khan in Mumbai
Senior Central Bureau of Investigation officer O P Chhatwal, who has been associated with Mumbai serial blasts investigations since 1993, is likely to head a four-member team set to leave for Portugal to secure gangster Abu Salem's custody.
Salem was arrested with his companion, Bollywood starlet Monica Bedi, and an associate, Hyder, on Thursday at the Lisbon airport.
Since Salem is a key Mumbai blasts accused, the CBI had got a red-corner notice issued against him through the Interpol.
Once an errand boy for Dawood Ibrahim's younger brother Anis, Abu Salem struck it big when he escaped to Dubai after the serial blasts.
He, however, was not reckoned in the big league till he ordered the killing of music baron Gulshan Kumar on August 12, 1997.
He was twice detained by the Dubai police, but on both occasions used his clout with the local administration to escape deportation to India.
The CBI this time, however, is confident of getting him to India to stand trial for a long list of crimes that includes murder, extortion and drug trafficking.
As per the information available with the CBI, Bedi, rechristened Fauziya Begum, and Hyder have been let off by the authorities in Lisbon. Salem was produced in a court on Friday morning.
ALSO SEE: Abu Salem arrested in Lisbon
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