The Delhi High Court on Thursday reserved orders on two separate petitions of the Delhi police and underworld don Abu Salem seeking dropping of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) charge against Salem.
Salem is facing prosecution in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts and other criminal cases.
Justice V.K. Shali reserved orders on conclusion of arguments by counsel for the police and the underworld don.
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Additional Solicitor-General Haren Raval, on January 25, urged the court to dispose of the two petitions on an urgent basis as the Union government had decided to appeal in the Constitutional Court of Portugal against the Lisbon High Court order terminating the extradition of Abu Salem to India from that country.
The Delhi police have sought dropping of the charge in the backdrop of the Lisbon High Court terminating the extradition of Salem for breach of the extradition conditions by India by booking him under the MCOCA which also provides for death sentence.
The Lisbon High Court order had come on a petition by Salem. He had moved the court there following dismissal of his petition challenging framing of the charge under the MCOCA by the Indian Supreme Court.
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The police argued that the charge against the underworld don was framed by a local court here despite argument by the investigating agency that it was against the terms and conditions of Salem's extradition to face trial in the Mumbai serial blasts case of 1993.
The court is also seized of a petition by Salem challenging dismissal of an application by the city police seeking dropping of the MCOCA charge against him by the trial court.
The trial court had in 2009 dismissed the application saying that it was not in public interest. The police had sought dropping of the MCOCA charge against the accused arguing that according to the conditions for his extradition from Portugal, he could be awarded the maximum punishment of 25 years of imprisonment by Indian courts while under the MCOCA, he could be even awarded death sentence.
The Union government had asked the Delhi police to approach the trial court seeking dropping of the MCOCA charge against Salem when he had approached a court in Portugal alleging that the Indian authorities were acting in contravention of the extradition conditions.
Extradited in 2005
Salem was extradited from Portugal in 2005. He was booked under the MCOCA by the Delhi police for allegedly making extortion calls to a Delhi-based businessman, Ashok Gupta, in 2002.
Among the conditions under which he was extradited to India are that he cannot be awarded death sentence or tried under any special law of the land and can only be sentenced to a maximum of 25 years of imprisonment.