Salem to move EU for execution of order cancelling extradition

Gangster Abu Salem, who survived bid on his life in a Navi Mumbai jail last month, will move the European Union seeking execution of the order canceling his extradition to India issued by the Portuguese constitutional court.

"We will move the EU..The Portugal high court, supreme court and constitutional court had cancelled the extradition (to India). What are the authorities waiting for," Salem's Portugal-based lawyer Mannuel Ferriera asked.

Ferriera, who arrived in India on Sunday, met Salem after securing permission of the special TADA court and spoke to him for nearly two hours.

Salem, an accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, was extradited from Portugal on November 11, 2005, after a prolonged legal battle.

The supreme court of Portugal had last year dismissed an appeal of the Central Bureau of Investigation challenging termination of extradition of the underworld don.

Salem was shot at by gangster Devendra Jagtap alias JD, an accused in the murder of advocate Shahid Azmi who had represented an 26/11 Mumbai attack accused, in Taloja Central Jail in Navi Mumbai on June 27. He was hit in his hand by one of the two rounds allegedly fired by JD.

"Salem is very depressed after the attack and has decided to move European Union. We will move the EU as the Portugal government is not doing anything. We will request the EU to direct the Portugal government to take some steps for execution of the cancellation of the extradition order," the lawyer said.

The Portuguese constitutional court is a special court, defined by the country's constitution as part of the judicial branch of the Portuguese political organisation.

Ferriera said that cases against Salem in India were dragging without any conclusion whereas they should have reached their logical conclusion by now. "(Taking) no decision is also a bad decision and major problem in the case is that there is no decision taken," he added.