PHOTO BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT IN MUMBAI

IN THE NET: Underworld don Abu Salem being produced in court in Mumbai on Friday after he was extradited along with his companion, Monica Bedi, from Portugal.

NEW DELHI: After a three-year legal battle in Portugal, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday brought home Abu Salem, one of the prime accused in the 1993 Bombay serial blasts, along with his companion Monica Bedi, a former Bollywood starlet.

Announcing the successful extradition of Abu Salem and Monica Bedi to India at a hurriedly convened press conference at the agency's headquarters on Friday morning, CBI Director Uma Shankar Misra said the two were brought from Lisbon to Mumbai at about 7.45 a.m. in a chartered aircraft.

A CBI team, headed by Deputy Inspector-General O.P. Chhatwal, left here for the Portuguese capital on October 29 and it took 13 days for the legal process to be completed before the Salem-Bedi duo could be brought to Mumbai.

It was on October 19 that the agency received communication that the Portuguese authorities were ready to extradite both of them. They were arrested in Lisbon on September 18, 2002 on charges of possessing fake documents and it took painstaking efforts by the CBI to establish their identities and take up the legal process that went through several ups and downs.

While Abu Salem, a close associate of Dawood Ibrahim, prime accused in the Mumbai serial blasts that killed about 270 people and wounded over 1,000, has been extradited to face charges in eight cases, Monica Bedi will face charges in two cases of passport forgery in Hyderabad and Bhopal.

Of Salem's eight cases, three are pending with the CBI, three with the Delhi police pertaining to extortion and two with the Mumbai police for alleged murder. The underworld don's role in a string of high-profile extortion and murder cases will also come under the scrutiny of the law enforcement agencies. He is also alleged to be involved in the murder of Bollywood music industry czar Gulshan Kumar in 1999, and the killings of Ajit Diwani and Pradeep Jain, both associated with the Hindi film industry. Attacks on leading filmmakers such as Rajiv Rai and Rakesh Roshan also reportedly pointed towards Salem's involvement.

Both Salem and Monica Bedi fought their extradition to India, blocking the process at every stage till they exhausted all avenues from the Magisterial and High Court to the Portuguese Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court. In keeping with the European Union's requirements, the then NDA Government assured Portugal that the two would not get the death penalty if extradited.

Mr. Misra attributed the CBI success to the "growing international concern over terrorists who are now operating in different states and trans-national criminals who are to be tried appropriately."

P.V. SIVAKUMAR IN HYDERABAD

Monica being brought to the CBI office in Hyderabad later in the evening. She is facing charges in two cases of passport forgery.

The CBI chief said that a detailed interrogation of Salem, who has been on the run for the past decade, is likely to provide insight into several aspects of the Mumbai blasts case in which about two dozen accused are still absconding. The Designated Court has completed the trial and the judgment has been reserved for the past one-and-a-half years. He did not rule out the possibility of "getting to know more about the role of Pakistan's ISI agency" and Dawood Ibrahim in the 1993 serial blasts.

High drama in Hyderabad

Hyderabad Staff Reporter reports:

The Begumpet airport witnessed high drama with reports coming in about the possibility of Monica Bedi being brought here. Newspersons made a beeline for the airport.

Photographers positioned themselves at the domestic arrival entrance, the VIP gate and another exit near the international arrival entrance.

Finally, the flight landed around 9.30 p.m. and the CBI officials managed to avoid the newspersons by taking her through the service gate and reached their Kothi office in 30 minutes.

An officer of the agency said that Monica Bedi's transit remand period was valid till Monday. However, sources said she would be produced in the CBI court on Saturday.

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