Court reserves order till June 13 in Salem's trial case

Mumbai, June 9 (UNI) The designated TADA court here today reserved its order till June 13 on a plea moved by CBI seeking direction to separate the trial of extradited gangster Abu Salem and his associate Riyaz Siddique from the trial of 123 serial blasts accused, including cine-star Sanjay Dutt.

TADA Judge P D Kode reserved the order following the argument on the plea concluding on the last occasion.

CBI had earlier urged the court to separate Salem and Siddique's trial on the ground that the trial of 123 accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case had already concluded, and the court was all set to deliver its verdict.

The plea was strongly opposed by Salem's lawyers Nitin Pradhan and Ashok Sarogi, who claimed that the separation of the don's trial would be in violation of the extradition agreement between India and Portugal.

The court was told that at the time of agreement, the Indian Government had assured the Portugal Government that Salem would be tried with the other blast case accused.

UNI XR-ARM GK MSJ ND1710