File photo of gangster Abu Salem being taken to a court
A special court has convicted gangster Abu Salem in the murder of a Mumbai-based builder in 1995. Salem was extradited from Portugal in 2005 and has been in Arthur Road Jail ever since.
A TADA court found Salem guilty of the murder of builder Pradeep Jain, who was shot dead by assailants outside his Juhu bungalow in March, 1995. The police alleged that he had refused to give up a huge property to Salem.
This is the first judgement in a case involving Salem in India after he was extradited in 2005. Salem, another builder Virendra Jhamb and Mehndi Hassan faced the trial in the case.
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, in 2012, had dismissed an appeal of the CBI which had challenged termination of his extradition. He has also moved Supreme Court of Portugal seeking directions to the Indian government to execute its order of cancelling his extradition.
In June 2012, Salem was shot at in Taloja Central jail in Navi Mumbai allegedly by gangster Devendra Jagtap alias JD, an accused in the murder of advocate Shahid Azmi who had represented a 26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused.