Poornima Swaminathan

Gangster Abu Salem has found a new way to beat his boredom and let out his frustration.

The flamboyant underworld don was relieved man on Tuesday after a Tada court granted him permission to play badminton within the jail premises.

Salem, currently lodged in barrack No.1 of Arthur Road jail, will be playing the game with his cronies, Ayub Patel, Abdul Qayyum and Mehendi Hassan, to while away his time.

“He is fond of sports and is a fitness freak. He is happy with the court’s permission, and is looking forward to spend his afternoons playing badminton,” said a jail source.

Salem is likely to get a couple of badminton racquets and some shuttlecocks on Thursday.

The gangster became frustrated, and even went on a hunger strike, after the state government decided not to take him out of prison for his court trials following intelligence reports indicated that there was threat to his life from Dawood Ibrahim. Salem broke away from the D-Gang and began running his own outfit in the mid-90s.

The brand-conscious gangster, who has a penchant for cosmetics and apparels, works out in the prison. “He regularly works out with cement dumb bells he himself has made,” said the source.

Salem, for the first time after he was extradited in November 2005, came under the same roof with one-time archrival Arun Gawli.

The don-turned-politician, who spent three hours in the high-security anda cell on Tuesday night, has been booked under MCOCA for his alleged involvement in the murder of Shiv Sena corporator Kamlakar Jamsandikar.

It was a reunion of sorts, with all the bigwigs of Mumbai’s underbelly behind bars in Arthur Road jail on Tuesday night. Gawli was lodged just two cells away from his sworn enemy Chhota Rajan’s henchman, DK Rao. Key members of the D-gang - Salim Fruit, Shahid Qureshi, Dawood’s brother-in-law - were also in the vicinity.

“There was a buzz about Gawli being lodged in the prison. We thought there would be many a eyeball-toeyeball.

But Gawli was handed over to the Ghatkopar police on Wednesday for further custody,” said the jail source.

Source : DNA