‘Abu Salem wasn’t on police radar after 1993 Mumbai serial blasts’

Mumbai city news: ‘Neither was he a suspect in the serial blasts, even a month after the police unravelled the diabolic plot’

Much before he delivered a consignment of arms and explosives at actor Sanjay Dutt’s house in the run-up to the March 12, 1993 serial blasts, Abdool Qayoom Ansari aka Abu Salem went by the name Abu Saaman in the D Company.

A file photo of Abu Salem. (HT FILE)

That was the reputation Ansari had earned for his driving skills, which ensured many of the gang’s consignments of contraband (referred to as saaman) reach their destination in time. So he was the natural choice for the gang when it came to carrying the deadly consignment of hand grenades and assault rifles from Gujarat to Mumbai in January 1993. Ansari did not disappoint Anees Ibrahim, Dawood’s younger brother and second-in-command in the gang and whom he revered as his master. The task was accomplished with precision and the consignment reached the garage at the Dutt’s Pali Hill home without raising any suspicion.

Retired assistant commissioner of police (ACP), Shankar Kamble, who was a key member of the Mumbai crime branch team that investigated the serial blasts case, clearly remembers that Ansari (Salem) never figured in the underworld criminal dossier, neither was he a suspect in the serial blasts, even a month after the police unravelled the diabolic plot.

One of the gangsters spilled the beans about key Dawood aide Baba Chouhan. “Chouhan’s family ran a motor driving training school in Andheri, while he himself was involved in smuggling activity,” Kamble recollects. Baba was swiftly picked up and subjected to questioning.

It was from Baba’s disclosure the police learnt about another facet of the terror plan--of random firing with assault rifles and lobbing of grenades—which never took off.

It became evident that a large consignment of arms and explosives had been carried into the city from Gujarat in a Maruti Omni van, which was registered in Gujarat. Special cavities were made in the doors and floor of the van to conceal the consignment that was initially offloaded at Dutt’s bungalow. The disclosure not only nailed Dutt, but the driver of the vehicle, Salem (and two more) in the terror plot.

What followed was the arrest of Dutt, Baba, Salim Hingora, Arif Kadawala and some other accused. However, Salem had, by then, escaped to Delhi, later his home town Azamgarh before he flew down to Dubai to join the D’Company fugitives. The van was never found.

Years after the blast, the police heard Chhota Shakeel referring someone as “driver” in his telephone interceptions. Later, it became evident that the “driver” was none but their wanted blast accused Qayoom who morphed into “Abu Salem” afterwards.