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Portugal irked at Abu's torture, cites treaty
The Lisbon authorities had also been assured by the CBI that there would be no custodial torture of Salem or Monica.
Portugal has said that the torture of underworld don Abu Salem in police custody in Mumbai was a "clear violation" of the bilateral extradition treaty.
In a letter to the Ministry of External Affairs, the Portuguese government annexed a newspaper clipping, along with a letter, which had reported about the alleged torture of Salem.
The letter sought the Ministry's comments on the report and said that such actions were in clear violation of the extradition agreement arrived at by New Delhi and Lisbon.
Surprised by the letter, the ministry quickly passed it on to the CBI which denied custodial torture of Salem and passed it on to Mumbai Police for its comments as Salem had been with them for past several months.
Salem, along with Monica Bedi, was arrested in Lisbon on September 18, 2002 and their extradition was ensured only after New Delhi gave an assurance that the duo, if convicted, would not be handed out capital punishment.
The Lisbon authorities had also been assured by the CBI that there would be no custodial torture of Salem or Monica.
Salem had been extradited to India to stand trial in eight cases which included the Mumbai serial blasts, two cases of forgery of passports in Lucknow, three cases of extortion in Delhi and two murder cases in Mumbai which included the murder of Ajit Dewani, secretary of Bollywood actress Manisha Koirala.