Friday, November 11 2005 18:56 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: From a PCO booth owner to one of Dawood Ibrahim's important henchmen, Abu Salem's crime career started as a taxi driver in Delhi before shifting to Mumbai where he began as a small timer in Mumbai's underworld.

Salem alias Abdul Saleem Ansari, who was brought here this morning from Portugal and is wanted in more than five dozen cases by the CBI and various police of the country, began as a small timer in the crime world of Mumbai.

36-year-old Salem, who hails from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, moved to Mumbai in mid-1980s and engaged himself in petty crime while operating a telephone booth in the northern suburb of Andheri.

Salem, considered one of the most dreaded underworld figures wanted in connection with more than 60 cases, including bombing, murders, extortion and abduction, became a small-time gun runner with the D-Company of Dawood through his younger brother Anees Ibrahim.

Salem's job was to take the gang's arsenal from one point in the city to another for hitmen and sharp shooters of the gang.

During this period, he was also pushed into the extortion racket by the Dawood gang where he started collecting money from builders in the city and Bollywood personalities on behalf of Dawood Ibrahim, who operates from Karachi and has been named by the US as Specially Designated Global Terrorist for funding Al-Qaeda militant.

After remaining as one among the dozens of second or third rung operatives of D-Company, Salem shot into prominence through the sensational murder of Bollywood producer and music baron Gulshan Kumar in 1997.

This murder brought him into the big league elevating him to the status of one of Dawood's close henchmen. His name then started sending a message of terror in Bollywood.

After Kumar's murder, Salem made an abortive attempt at yet another famous film producer Rajiv Rai.

His growing clout in Bollywood had by then earned him the sobriquet "second-in-command" in Dawood Ibrahim's gang.

However, the promotion was shortlived as Salem split from Dawood gang towards the fag end of 1990s and started his own gang with film personalities as his main targets.

Mumbai police has named him as an accused in the killing of Ajit Deewani, secretary to film actress Manisha Koirala, in 2002.

However, after falling out with Dawood, he had to face a dual threat of police and his gang members.

He was detained in Sharjah in 2000 but was let off because of want of evidence. But the freedom was shortlived as within two years, Salem, a name dreaded by Bollywood, was finally caught in Lisbon.