Abu Salem off MCOCA hook

In a bid to drop Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) charges against extradited gangster, Abu Salem, the prosecution has withdrawn the 2001 Ajit Dewani murder case against him.

On an application made by the prosecution, special MCOCA judge RG Awachat, on Friday, discharged Salem from the case. “As directed by the home ministry, we have withdrawn the case against Salem on September 29. Since a MCOCA court cannot try regular matters, Salem had to be discharged completely. It is up to the state to frame regular charges of the IPC and Arms Act against him,” said special public prosecutor, JR Madon.

Salem was extradited on November 11, 2005. He is accused of conspiring to kill Dewani with his cronies, Upendra Singh alias Guddu, Nizamuddin Khan alias Kumar, Akhilesh Singh, Ayub Patel, Saheblal Giri and Deepak Singh alias Deepu. After his extradition, another accused, Shah Alam, was arrested in this case.

According to prosecution, Upendra Singh and Deepak Singh barged into Dewani’s office in Lokhandwala and shot him at point blank range. They escaped in a car provided by Khan. All the other accused in the case will be tried under MCOCA.

The state home ministry acted on a letter by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special director MC Sharma, dated February 22, which said, in matters of extradition, ‘the doctrine of specialty’ has to be observed whereby an extraditee has to be prosecuted only for those offenses for which extradition has been granted by the state. Salem had moved Lisbon high court, which came down strongly on the Indian government for not abiding by the extradition clauses.