Gangster Abu Salem denied parole to get married

Authorities have rejected an application of 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case convict Abu Salem seeking a 40-day parole to get married, a senior police official said on Saturday.

The underworld don, lodged in Taloja prison in neighbouring Navi Mumbai, had moved the application a month ago, he said.

The application of Salem, serving a life sentence, was forwarded to the Konkan Divisional Commissioner for a decision, the official said.

The Divisional Commissioner, the competent authority to process such pleas, rejected the extradited gangster's application three days ago on grounds of his security, he said.

Before rejecting the plea, the Divisional Commissioner had sought a report from the Thane Police Commissionerate, the official said.

Salem has given his residential address of Mumbra, which falls under the Thane Police Commissionerate. After receiving a negative report, the Divisional Commissioner rejected Salem's plea for parole, he added.

According to the police, Salem, who is in his 50s, was to tie the knot, reportedly for the third time, with a woman from Mumbra town in Thane on May 5.

In 2015, the Mumbra woman had submitted an application in the special TADA court, which was hearing the blasts case, stating she wanted to marry Salem and he, too, had agreed to tie the knot with her, the official said.

This was the same woman who had claimed to have married Salem during a train journey to Uttar Pradesh in 2014, he said.

The gangster, extradited from Portugal in 2005, originally hails from Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh.

Salem and four others were convicted in the Mumbai blasts case by the special court in September last year.

The 1993 bombings in the financial capital had killed 257 people and injured 713 others.

Besides the blasts case, Salem is facing charges in several other criminal matters.