Mumbai, November 13
The CBI today claimed that extradited underworld don Abu Salem has “admitted his role in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts as supplier of arms and ammunition”, even as the agency did not rule out the possibility of subjecting Salem to scientific tests.
The CBI sleuths, who are questioning the gangster, said Salem was “fairly cooperative” during the interrogation that entered its second day today.
Keeping its cards close to the chest on subjecting Salem to scientific tests like polygraph, brain-mapping etc, the CBI said it did not rule out such a possibility, but added nothing had been decided yet on the issue.
“We do not rule out the possibility. But we already have enough evidence against him. That is what helped in getting this gangster extradited,” a senior CBI official said.
However, the gangster’s lawyer has rejected the claim that Salem had confessed to his involvement in the 1993 blasts.
“We have already told the court that the accused does not intend to give a confessional statement,” Salem’s lawyer O.A. Siddiqui told a television channel here. However, he said his client would cooperate with the CBI in its ongoing probe.
The CBI officials said although they were tackling a tough criminal, he was cooperating in the interrogation and helping them in the 1993 serial bomb blasts probe.
“Our focus (of questioning) is on 1993 blasts,” the official said but refused to divulge the details of interrogation held so far.
The official also refused to comment on media reports that Salem had divulged names of some politicians and Bollywood personalities during the course of the interrogation.
The CBI official also said no question seeking the whereabouts of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim was posed to Salem in the past two days.
The official also said apart from the eight cases for which the Indian Government has obtained Portugal Government’s consent to extradite the gangster, there was another passport forgery case for which Salem’s extradition was sought.
Salem had obtained a forged passport in the name of Danish Baig, while his girlfriend Monica Bedi had used the name Faujia Usman in her fake passport, he said, adding that this case was registered at Bhopal by the Madhya Pradesh Police against both Salem and Monica and the evidence in the case was conveyed to the Portugese authorities later.
In another turn in events, Salem today admitted to the CBI that starlet Monica Bedi was not his first but second wife. Salem said he had divorced his first wife before marrying Monica, CBI sources said.
— PTI
