Delhi Police has informed a court that it has urged the city government’s Home Department to appoint a prosecutor to conduct the trial in an extortion case allegedly involving extradited gangster Abu Salem and others but no notification has been issued yet.
The police told Additional Sessions Judge Neena Bansal Krishna that notification regarding appointment of prosecutor in the case has not been received from the department of home of Delhi Government.
“It is submitted by inspector l N Rao that a request has been sent to the Department of Home for appointment of another prosecutor, but the notification has not been received as yet. In the circumstances, it is requested that the matter may be adjourned,” the court noted in its order.
The court has fixed the case for October 28 for recording of prosecution evidence observing that no prosecutor has been appointed yet. Salem is accused in eight cases, including the 1993 Mumbai blasts case and is currently put up in a jail in Mumbai. Salem along with others is facing trial for demanding `5 crore as protection money from a Delhi-based businessman in 2002.
According to police, he made threat calls to Ashok Gupta demanding Rs 5 crore as protection money. Police also claims to have recorded some his telephonic calls.
Salem is an accused in eight cases in the country, including the 1993 Mumbai blasts case. He was extradited from Portugal in November 2005 and is facing trial for allegedly demanding protection money.
The other accused facing trials in this case are Chanchal Mehta, Majid Khan, Pawan Kumar Mittal and Mohmmad Ashraf. One of the accused, Sajjan Kumar Soni, had died during the pendency of the case.