Mumbai: As underworld Don Abu Salem completes six months in a Portugal jail tomorrow (March 18), India still awaits response from Lisbon about its request for extraditing him to stand trial in the 1993 bomb blast case and several other cases of murder and extortion, official sources said on March 17.

Salem was detained in Portugal on September 18 along with his wife and former actress Monica Bedi for illegal stay. He was remanded to custody for three months initially and later the remand period was extended by three more months to March 18.

With the remand period expiring tomorrow, Portugal is yet to respond to India's plea for Salem's custody.

Soon after his arrest, a CBI team had left for Lisbon to put up a request for his extradition. They had also forwarded certain documents to support their claim that Salem was wanted in India for serious offences, the sources said.

Salem is alleged to have helped underworld don Dawood Ibrahim in distributing arms and ammunition for use in the 1993 serial blasts. He had himself accompanied co-accused late Hanif Kadawala and Samir Hingora to the house of film actor Sanjay Dutt in a car filled with weapons. Dutt had kept an AK-56 rifle with him and they left with other weapons.

Dutt has denied the allegation but CBI has recorded his statement as well as those of co-accused Kadawala, Hingora and Baba Chavan in support of their case that they had gone to the actor's residence to deliver weapons. Besides Dutt, other accused have retracted their statement.

PTI