Thursday, November 17 2005 15:00 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: A special court today (Nov 17,2005) rejected plea of extradited underworld don Abu Salem urging for presence of his lawyer during interrogation by the CBI.

Salem's petition was rejected by designated TADA judge, P D Kode, who said that the gangster's fear of CBI forcing him to make a confession was based on speculations and was pre-mature.

The judge, however, asked Salem to approach the CBI in this regard and left the matter to the discretion of CBI whether to allow lawyer during interrogation.

Arguments on Salem's plea concluded yesterday (Nov 16, 2005) and the court had reserved order for today.

Salem's lawyers Ashok Sarogi pleaded that there was a Supreme Court ruling in the famous Nandini Satpathy v/s Govt case in which the apex court had laid down a law allowing lawyers to remain present during interrogation within audible distance.

However, CBI opposed Salem's plea saying when Nandidi Satpathi judgement was delivered by the apex court the TADA (P) Act had not come into existence. If this act was in existence then perhaps the Supreme Court may have given a different ruling.

CBI lawyer K S Sharma also pleaded that in the interest of society at large the interrogation should be fair and impartial and hence allowing lawyer during questioning might give him an opportunity to prompt his client or leak information about investigations.

This may hamper free and fair probe, he pleaded.