BOMBAY, 4 January 2006 — In the aftermath effects of the narco-analysis and lie detector tests conducted on notorious underworld don Abu Salem in Bangalore three days ago, and upon his sustained interrogation later here, the gangster broke down and confessed to the murder of real estate developer Pradip Jain in Bombay in 1995.
Talking to newsmen yesterday morning, Joint Commissioner of Police (Anti-Terrorist Squad) P.S. Raghuvanshi said that Abu Salem had recorded his confession yesterday before a senior police officer who is also the competent authority to record the statement and the confession of the accused. It would be presented before the judge of the special Terrorist and Disruptive Act (TADA) court, where the murder case is being heard.
Raghuvanshi when asked to reveal the contents of the confession said that he was unaware of the confession and the same would be revealed only when it reaches the designated TADA court.
Police sources say that Abu Salem after undergoing brain mapping, polygraph and narco-analysis test at Bangalore scientific laboratory had revealed during the course of tests his alleged role in the Bombay bomb blasts in 1993, murders of Ajit Dewani, secretary of a Bollywood star and that of real estate developer Pradip Jain.
During the three hour scientific tests, Abu Salem is alleged to have made a startling disclosure that he had committed the murders on the instructions of Anees Ibrahi, younger brother of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. Abu Salem is also said to have disclosed several names of people who had who formed his financial chain of collection and in the distribution of the extortion money.
This is the second confession by Abu Salem. Earlier the gangster had confessed to his alleged role in the Bombay bomb blasts n 1993. Last week the ATS said that it would share information obtained from Abu Salem during the scientific tests with the CBI, Intelligence agencies and the Crime Branch in Bombay.
In a dramatic sequences related to the confession issue, Ashok Sarogi, the lawyer for Abu Salem, denied that his client had made any confessional statement and accused the Bombay police of exerting pressure on Abu Salem to confess. Sarogi referred to the visit of another UK based lawyer Harjit Singh representing Abu Salem, and said that his client has not mentioned of any confession made to Singh. “ this is just another ploy or tactic by the Bombay police, and nothing beyond that. The police develop new tactics and this is the way how they carry on their work” Sarogi said.
In another related development a TADA court granted permission to the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) to take custody and question Riaz Siddiqui, a close associate of Abu Salem in the Pradip Jain murder case as well for his alleged role in delivering weapons to film star Sanjay Dutt during the Bombay riots, as also providing a car to transport arms and ammunition to Dutt.
