Have requested home dept to appoint prosecutor in Abu Salem's case: Delhi Police

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police has informed a court that it has urged the city government's Home Department to appoint a prosecutor to conduct the trial in an extortion case allegedly involving extradited gangster Abu Salem and others but no notification has been issued yet.

The police told Additional Sessions Judge Neena Bansal Krishna that notification regarding appointment of prosecutor in the case has not been received from the department of home of Delhi Government.

"It is submitted by inspector L N Rao that a request has been sent to the Department of Home for appointment of another prosecutor, but the notification has not been received as yet. In the circumstances, it is requested that the matter may be adjourned," the court noted in its order.

The court has fixed the case for October 28 for recording of prosecution evidence observing that no prosecutor has been appointed yet.

Salem, accused in eight cases in the country including the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, is currently lodged in a jail in Mumbai.

Salem and others are facing trial for allegedly demanding Rs five crore as protection money from businessman Ashok Gupta, a resident of Greater Kailash here, in 2002.

The other accused facing trial are Chanchal Mehta, Majid Khan, Pawan Kumar Mittal and Mohd Ashraf. One of the accused, Sajjan Kumar Soni, had died during the pendency of the case.

Salem was extradited from Portugal in November 2005.

According to police, Salem allegedly made threat calls to businessman Ashok Gupta in 2002 to extort Rs five crore from him as protection money. Police claimed to have recorded some of the telephonic calls.