Mumbai:
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has opposed gangster Abu Salem's plea to close the 1993 Mumbai blasts case trial against him.
Salem had approached the Special TADA court earlier this month and argued that continuing with the trial would be illegal since the Portuguese Supreme Court had held that the rules under which he had been extradited to India had been breached.
The CBI today told the Special TADA court which is hearing Salem's plea that it did not accept this verdict and had filed an appeal in Portugal's Constitutional Court.
In an order earlier this month, Portugal's Supreme Court upheld a High Court decision which said that the extradition rules had been violated since Salem had been slapped with new charges which attracted the death penalty.
But the CBI said that it did not agree with this verdict and maintained that it was a matter which needed to be sorted out between the governments of the two countries.
Serial blasts which shook Mumbai on March 12, 1993 left 257 dead and 713 injured. Besides the blasts case, Salem is also being tried in cases of murder and extortion.
Salem was arrested in Lisbon in 2002 along with his girlfriend, actor Monica Bedi, for travelling with fake passports. He was extradited from Portugal in 2005 after the Indian government gave an assurance that he would not be awarded the death penalty or charged with any section of the law which entailed jail for more than 25 years.
In September last year, a Portuguese High Court said that India had violated this condition.
Salem's counsel had moved the High Court in Portugal, seeking that the extradition be revoked, after a September 2010 ruling by the Supreme Court of India. The ruling had said that Salem could be tried for offences inviting the death penalty despite the extradition condition since India as well as Portugal were signatories to the international convention on elimination of terrorism. Salem could be tried for murder and criminal conspiracy along with offences under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act or TADA, the ruling had said.
In its appeal in the Portuguese Supreme Court, the CBI contended that it was a matter of interpretation of the extradition rules by the highest court of India, which was binding on all subordinate courts in the country, official sources said. India had argued that the High Court in Lisbon had interpreted the rule differently.
Salem had approached the Special TADA court earlier this month and argued that continuing with the trial would be illegal since the Portuguese Supreme Court had held that the rules under which he had been extradited to India had been breached.
The CBI today told the Special TADA court which is hearing Salem's plea that it did not accept this verdict and had filed an appeal in Portugal's Constitutional Court.
In an order earlier this month, Portugal's Supreme Court upheld a High Court decision which said that the extradition rules had been violated since Salem had been slapped with new charges which attracted the death penalty.
But the CBI said that it did not agree with this verdict and maintained that it was a matter which needed to be sorted out between the governments of the two countries.
Serial blasts which shook Mumbai on March 12, 1993 left 257 dead and 713 injured. Besides the blasts case, Salem is also being tried in cases of murder and extortion.
Salem was arrested in Lisbon in 2002 along with his girlfriend, actor Monica Bedi, for travelling with fake passports. He was extradited from Portugal in 2005 after the Indian government gave an assurance that he would not be awarded the death penalty or charged with any section of the law which entailed jail for more than 25 years.
In September last year, a Portuguese High Court said that India had violated this condition.
Salem's counsel had moved the High Court in Portugal, seeking that the extradition be revoked, after a September 2010 ruling by the Supreme Court of India. The ruling had said that Salem could be tried for offences inviting the death penalty despite the extradition condition since India as well as Portugal were signatories to the international convention on elimination of terrorism. Salem could be tried for murder and criminal conspiracy along with offences under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act or TADA, the ruling had said.
In its appeal in the Portuguese Supreme Court, the CBI contended that it was a matter of interpretation of the extradition rules by the highest court of India, which was binding on all subordinate courts in the country, official sources said. India had argued that the High Court in Lisbon had interpreted the rule differently.
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