Maharashtra government wants Abu Salem to be moved to Thane from Taloja jail

The state government has moved the Bombay high court seeking to transfer gangster Abu Salem from Taloja prison to Thane, fearing a threat to his life inside the prison.

Salem was on Monday convicted by a Special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA) court for the 1995 murder of builder Pradeep Jain.

A division bench of justices Ranjit More and Anuja Prabhudessai have posted the hearing on the application on Wednesday. Public prosecutor Sandeep Shinde said, "The government has received intelligence inputs that there is a threat to Salem's life inside the Taloja prison and to prevent this we want him to be moved to Thane central prison."

Salem, who was deported in 2005 from Portugal, was lodged in Arthur Road jail's anda cell. But he was shifted from the high-security prison to Taloja central jail in Navi Mumbai after he was attacked in 2010 with a spoon, by alleged Dawood Ibrahim aide Mustafa Dossa, a co-accused in the 1993 serial bomb blasts case. The gangster had sustained injuries to his hand and face.

However, on June 27, 2013, he was attacked again: he was allegedly shot at in Taloja jail by gangster Devendra Jagtap, an accused in the murder of advocate Shahid Azmi who had represented a 26/11 attacks suspect.

Then, he was moved from Taloja to Thane prison, but last year the Special TADA court had directed the prison authorities to move him back to Taloja after he moved an application in this regard.

But the government has challenged his stay in Taloja on the grounds that it would be in the interest of the accused to be moved back to Thane.