Court to give order on Salem's plea for joint trial Thursday, June 8 2006 17:59 Hrs (IST) - World Time -
Mumbai:
A TADA court would deliver its verdict tomorrow on a plea of extradited gangster Abu Salem to try him in the 1993 serial bomb blast case along with actor Sanjay Dutt and 122 co-accused.
The matter came up before designated Judge P D Kode who declared last week that he would decide Salem's plea on June nine.
Opposing the CBI stand to separate his trial from the main case of 123 co-accused in the 1993 bomb blast case, defence lawyers Niteen Pradhan and Farhana Shah have argued
that if Salem is not tried jointly with others then prejudice may be caused to him and co-accused.
Seeking an early verdict on the bomb blast case, CBI had earlier urged the court to separate the trial of Salem from the main trial on the ground that the judgement had been
delayed considerably.
The trial had commenced in 1995 and the judgement was yet to be delivered, CBI submitted in a petition seeking separation of Salem's trial from that of other accused.
Considerable delay had already taken place and the prosecution was not in favour of delaying the trial any further, CBI prosecutors Ujjwal Nikam and Natrajan argued.
Salem countered the argument saying he would prefer to be tried jointly along with co-accused otherwise prejudice may be caused to him and others.
Sanjay is facing charge of possessing AK-56 rifle and later destroying it with the help of his friends. The actor has denied the allegation and witnesses have also not
supported the prosecution.
It is the case of the prosecution that some accused, including extradited gangster Abu Salem, had gone to Dutt's residence and handed over an AK-56 rifle.
Altogether 257 people were killed and 713 injured when a series of bomb blasts shattered 13 places in the city damaging property worth Rs 27 crores on March 12, 1993.
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