Framing of charges against Salem deferred till Mar 18

Mumbai, Mar 14: The TADA Court today (Mar 14, 2006) deferred the framing of proposed charges against extradited gangster Abu Salem and Riaz Siddiqui, accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts clase, till March 18.

The framing of charges was deferred by TADA Judge P D Kode after advocates Ashok Sarogi and Farhana Shah, defence counsels for Salem and Riaz, respectively, sought time to file their replies.

The court is yet to consider the draft charges.

The nine charges proposed by CBI against Salem and Riaz were read out by CBI Counsel N Natrajan and Ujjwal Nikam before the TADA court, which is housed in the high security Aurthur Road jail.

TADA Judge P D Kode took on record the proposed charges, which have been framed under various sections of the TADA Act, IPC and under the Arms&Explosvies Act.

The nine charges also include a meeting to hatch a conspiracy prior the serial blasts in March 1993, which rocked the metropolis.

According to the charges proposed by CBI, Abu Salem had delivered weapons at the Bandra residence of Bolloywood actor Sanjay Dutt.

However, CBI has not framed any fresh charges against any of the accused booked in the case, but some of them--Sanjay Dutt, Baba Musa Chavan and Sheikh Manzoor Ahmed--were named while the proposed charges were submitted.

While CBI counsels read out the charges, Sanjay Dutt, attired in jeans and skyblue coloured shirt, and clean-shaven Salem in blue jeans and black T-shirt were patiently hearing.

Meanwhile, in a related development, Sanjay Dutt and 85 other blast accused, who are on bail, today appeared before the TADA court. They were exempted from further personal appearance.

UNI

Related Stories