Salem's lawyers to move Portugal court against MCOCA use

Delhi Police has found itself in a tricky situation for invoking the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) on underworld don Abu Salem, as his lawyers are now planning to approach a Portugal court saying this move was in violation of the alleged gangster's extradition order.

Though the Union home ministry had last year asked Delhi as well as Mumbai Police to drop MCOCA charges against Salem, a court in Delhi recently rejected the plea of city
police saying that Portuguese courts were aware of which cases Salem was being extradited to India for.

The additional sessions judge's court observed that the mere omission of reference to the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act in the extradition terms did not make any
difference as the Portugese authorities knew that Salem's extradition was sought because of his alleged involvement in organised crimes as well.

However, Salem's lawyer, Arvind Kumar Shukla, told PTI that he will recommend to the UK-based law firm, that defended Salem in Portugal earlier, to inform the court about the violation of the extradition treaty.

"The decision of the court was in total violation of the sovereign commitment made by India to Portugal and the extradition order passed by the Portuguese court as also the
notification issued by the Portugal government," Shukla said.