Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, July 11: The Supreme Court said on Monday that Centre must release the gangsterAbu Salem after completion of his 25-year term in the 1993 Mumbai bombings case.
Salem had claimed that a formal guarantee made by India to Portugal for his extradition in 2002 stipulated that his sentence must not exceed 25 years.
According to the bench of Justices S K Kaul and M M Sundresh, the Central government is bound to advise the President of India for exercise of power under Article 72 of the Constitution and the national commitment on completion of his sentence.
“The necessary papers be forwarded within a month of completion of 25 years. In fact, the government can itself exercise the power of remission under CrPC within the time period of one month upon completion of 25 years,” said the bench.
Notably, Salem was sentenced to life in prison on February 25, 2015, in a separate case for the 1995 slayings of Mumbai-based builder Pradeep Jain and his driver Mehndi Hassan.
After a protracted legal battle, Salem, who was previously convicted in the 1993 Mumbai serial explosions case, was extradited from Portugal on November 11, 2005.
