Salem remanded to seven-day police custody

A court in New Delhi on Tuesday remanded extradited gangster Abu Salem - who is facing trial in the 1993 Mumbai blasts - in Delhi Police's custody for seven days in two other cases.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Seema Maini remanded Salem in the custody of the Special Cell of police to enable them to interrogate him for his alleged role in two extortion cases in New Delhi in April and July 2002.

In the first case, Salem had allegedly tried to extort Rs 50 million from a south Delhi-based businessman Ashok Gupta as "protection fee" to shield him from other gangsters.

In the July case, he had allegedly demanded Rs 10 million from Rajat Nagrath, owner of Allied Communications in East of Kailash in south Delhi.

The Special Cell had earlier arrested three people, Ishtaq, Sadiq and Chandu Prakash, in connection with the case. The trio had confessed that they called up the businessmen at the instance of Salem.

Salem was extradited from Portugal to India November 11, 2005 - 12 years after he allegedly masterminded the terror blasts in India's financial capital. He was brought to India along with his companion, Bollywood actress Monica Bedi.

Salem and Monica were arrested at a Lisbon shopping mall Sep 18, 2002 following an Interpol red corner notice issued at the Central Bureau of Investigation's request.

Apart from the Mumbai serial explosions, the 36-year-old mobster is also wanted in 54 cases ranging from murder to extortion.