Portugal HC terminates Salem's extradition

New Delhi, Sept 28: The Portuguese High Court has decided to terminate gangster Abu Salem's extradition since the Indian Government violated the extradition treaty. The CBI, while taking Salem and his actress girlfriend Monica Bedi into custody had given an assurance to Portugal that he would not be given death penalty or be charged with any section of the law which entails more than 25 years in jail.

Salem, who is currently on trial in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case was extradited from Portugal in November 2005. He was also charged with MCOCA for allegedly making extortion calls to a Delhi-based businessman Ashok Gupta in 2002, demanding Rs 5 crore as protection money.

The Portugal HC passed an order last week revoking the extradition of the gangster. The bench, comprising judges Carlos Rodrigues de Almeida, Horacio Tlolucas and Fernando Estrela, said that invoking the special statute against the extradited person violated the principle of speciality.

OneIndia News