Pradeep Jain murder case hearing adjourned till August 28

Mumbai, Aug 17 (UNI) The special TADA court here today adjourned the hearing into charges of criminal conspiracy against extradited gangster Abu Salem in the case of the murder of builder Pradeep Jain in 1995 to August 28.

The defence counsel today sought time for arguing on the draft charges filed by the prosecution against Salem.

TADA court judge P V Bavkar granted time and then adjourned the matter till August 28.

Pradeep Jain, a builder, was gunned down on March 7, 1995, while his brother Sunil had survived the attack. The two were attacked in Pradeep Jain's office at Juhu for failing to pay up an extortion amount.

This is one of the three cases here for which Salem was extradited from Portugal to face trials.

On the last occasion, special public prosecutor Ujwal Nikam had opened the draft charges against Salem and four others before the special TADA court Judge P V Bavkar and submitted that the accused had struck terror in the builders community. The accused had hatched a conspiracy in Dubai and Mumbai, and should be tried for offences punishable under section 120 (B) and other sections under the Indian Penal Code and TADA.

Besides Abu Salem, the four other accused in the case are Mohd Hasan Mehendi Hasan, Virendra Kumar Bidarilal Jhamd (a builder), Riyaz Ahmed Siddique and Mohd Naeem Khan.

Siddique and Khan have filed an application seeking pardon and have turned approvers in this case. Jhamd has challenged the TADA court charges which will also come up for hearing on the same day.

On July 28, the Crime Branch had filed a chargesheet against Salem and the others under various sections including IPC 384 for extortion, 302 for murder, 307 for attempt to murder, 452 for house trespass after preparation for hurt, assault and wrongful restraint, 506 (ii) criminal intimidation, 120 (B) criminal conspiracy, section 5 and 27 of the Arms Act and sections 3 (2),(3),(5) and 5 of TADA for possessing and transporting weapons.

UNI ST MAZ VD DS1620