New Delhi: Underworld don Abu Salem, who is in custody in Portugal following an Interpol red corner notice issued by CBI in 1993 Mumbai bomb blast case, figures in 71 cases in different parts of the country and six non bailable warrants (NBW) are pending against him in New Delhi alone in cases relating to organised crimes.

Delhi police have dug out cases as old as that of 1998 in which the name of Abu Salem had figured for the first time in a case where a man wanted to settle his property dispute with his brother.

The case against Salem was registered on August 25, 1998 at Lajpat Nagar when a man allegedly approached controversial politician Romesh Sharma for settling his dispute with his brother.

Delhi police claimed that Sharma had in turn sought help of Salem in settling the dispute.

Two more cases were registered against Sharma on November 3 of the same year. Both Sharma and Salem were charged by the Delhi police with conspiring to kill another underworld don Babloo Srivastava and the second case pertained to making of threatening calls to a businessman to extort money from him.

The fourth case against Salem was registered in May 2002 when special cell of Delhi police arrested Mohammed Ashraf alias Babloo, who had been asked by Salem to set a base in the national capital.

Considered to be the pointman of Salem, Ashraf was arrested along with a 9 mm pistol and five live cartridges by the police.

Delhi police procured a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Salem in the case of alleged extortion when three persons, C P Rai, Ishtiaq and Sadiq were arrested.

The trio was allegedly deputed by Salem to pinpoint noted businessmen and also to gather extortion money from them as per the directives of Salem.

A Delhi court on October 1 issued a NBW against Salem for allegedly running an organised crime syndicate for extorting money from businessmen in the capital.

The court also allowed special cell of Delhi police to take help of CBI in extraditing the gangster from Portugal capital Lisbon, where he was arrested by the Interpol in September.

Delhi police had arrested five associates of Salem Pawan Kumar Mittal, Sajjan Verma, Mohammed Ashraf, Majid Khan and Chanchal Mehta and registered a case against them under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

The matter came to light after a South Delhi based businessman complained that he was receiving extortion calls from Salem demanding Rs 5 crore.

The underworld don is facing 71 cases in different states, which include his role in the 1993 serial Mumbai bomb blast case, forgery, extortion and attempt to murder.

PTI