Please stop this bunkum. It is shocking to see how illiterate the Indian media is. Abu Salem doesn't know anything substantial about the 1993 Mumbai blasts. Only after the blasts did he become a ruthless murderer and extortionist."
This is what Usman (name changed), an accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, who is now out on bail, told us in a recent meeting.
This is also what many others involved in the serial blasts that killed 250 people said.
Senior lawyers who have handled the blasts case also believe that Salem's arrest won't in any way help the cops.
At the time of the blasts, they say Salem was merely a driver-cum-delivery boy for gangster Dawood Ibrahim's brother Anees Ibrahim, who was in Dubai.
On Thursday, reports quoted Salem's lawyer as saying that Salem has agreed to turn approver in the case.
Those who have been involved with the case view this with scepticism.
Usman says: "I have lost the most valuable years of my life in the Arthur Road jail [in Mumbai, where the blasts accused were lodged]. I know what happened in the blasts investigations. Till 1993, Abu Salem was a tapori and nothing more. He would roam around aimlessly near Magnum Video Library in Bandra [in northwest Mumbai] and around offices of film producers."
What upsets Usman more is the fact that newspapers and television channels, which are going all out in their Salem coverage, are ignoring a very important development that is just round the corner.
The TADA court in Mumbai, headed by Justice Pramod Kode, which is hearing the blasts case is expected to deliver its verdict in less than three months' time.
Usman says the court has asked all the 137 accused, including the 34 who are in jail, to remain in Mumbai after December 9.
A senior lawyer in the Bombay high court said Justice Kode has not recorded any new evidence after 2000 except the one provided by Izaz Pathan Sheikh who was extradited from Dubai in 2002.
This in effect means that none of Abu Salem's testimony, statements, allegations or evidences will be taken into account by Justice Kode's court while delivering the verdict.
Directly or otherwise, as of now, Salem's arrest is of no consequence to the blasts case.
As it happened in smuggler Mohammad Dosa's case, Salem too will be tried separately for his crimes.
More pointers to why it will be so:
- In all, 19 charge-sheets have been filed in the blasts case, and these run into 12,000 pages. There are also 64,000 pages of testimonies recorded from 684 witnesses. Nowhere in these 76,000 pages is there any indication that Salem played an important role in the blasts and knew the masterminds.
- Never during the decade-long trial was Salem cited as a prime accused. His only connection in the case is that he allegedly delivered weapons at Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt's residence.
- According to the charge-sheets, Abu Salem was not even part of the team which was trained by the ISI as some other accused were. Nor was he part of the team that helped land the RDX or arms. He did not attend even one of the five meetings held by the conspirators.
All that Salem can divulge now is only what he 'overheard' in Dubai while he was with Anees.
Reportedly, Dawood never considered Salem important enough to deal directly with him.
Though all this may mean that Salem is not as key an accused in the blasts case as he is made out to be, it does not mean he is not an important catch.
He is the key accused in many cases of extortion and murder.
He could shed more light on how he terrorised the film industry and some industrialists after the blasts.
The trial in Gulshan Kumar's murder case, and many other extortion cases now stand a better chance if Salem speaks out, but observers say this is unlikely.
Some believe the media hype over Salem is due to his film industry connections, his involvement in the Gulshan Kumar murder, and his alleged relationship with Dutt and other film-stars.
They say the only real fallout of his extradition is that it will put in trouble the producers, financiers, actors and singers who took his aid to get even with competitors.
Also, the police may question a few industrialists who paid ransom.
At least in Sanjay Dutt's case, the Mumbai police's case is strong since they have the statements of Baba Chavan and Salim Kurla, who were part of the operation to deliver arms at his house during the Mumbai riots.
The case against Dutt is that he acquired three AK56 rifles and 20 hand grenades from the underworld.
Just a few months ahead of the blasts, Anees had sent the AK56s and hand grenades to Mumbai. He reportedly told his cronies to send the 'guitars' to the actor.
According to the investigators, Dutt allegedly acquired the weapons to enhance his macho image.
Sanjay Dutt was jailed for possession of deadly weapons and is now out on bail. Since Salem's extradition, he has been a worried man, because it is said Salem was the man who drove to Dutt's Pali Hill residence to deliver the weapons and also opened the boxes before him.
Police records say Salem went to Dutt's home on January 15, 1993, and again on January 18 that year.
On the first occasion, film producer Samir Hingora and underworld henchman Baba Chavan accompanied him, while on the second Manzoor Ahmed and Hanif Kadawala, another producer, accompanied him.
Well-informed sources say that even regarding Bollywood, while Salem may let the police into some details, he will eventually retract his statements in court.
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