Abu Salem international criminal, can be given only 2-day parole: Maharashtra govt to HC
Mumbai (PTI): Gangster Abu Salem, convicted in the 1993 serial bomb blasts case, is an "international criminal" and hence can be granted only two-day emergency parole with police escort, the Maharashtra government told the Bombay High Court on Tuesday.
Salem had sought 14 days' parole, citing his elder brother's death.
Public prosecutor Mankhuwar Deshmukh said a 14-day parole was not possible as Salem is an "international criminal".
"The prison authority has said he can be given two days' parole along with police escort, the cost of which he will have to bear," Deshmukh told the court.
Salem's lawyer, Farhana Shah, said two days will not be enough as he has to travel to Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh.
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"There is also no need for any police escort. He has been in jail for over two decades and is seeking emergency parole," Shah said, adding that Salem is an Indian citizen.
A bench of Justices Ajay Gadkari and Shyam Chandak directed the government to file an affidavit stating its apprehension to grant Salem 14 days' parole, and posted the matter for further hearing next week.
Salem, in his plea filed in December 2025, sought parole as his elder brother, Abu Hakim Ansari, passed away in November last year.
He had said his plea got delayed due to the court's Christmas vacation.
According to Salem's plea, he had applied for an emergency 14-day parole from the jail authorities to attend the last rites and related rituals of his late brother on November 15 itself.
However, the jail authorities rejected his plea by an order dated November 20, 2025.
Salem further pointed out that since his arrest in November 2005, he has been in jail and was only granted parole leaves of a few days after the death of his mother and also after the demise of his stepmother.
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SC confirms interim bail granted to UP MLA Abbas Ansari in Gangsters Act case
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday confirmed its earlier order granting interim bail to Uttar Pradesh MLA Abbas Ansari, son of late gangster Mukhtar Ansari, in a case under the state's Gangsters Act.
On August 31, 2024, an FIR was lodged at Kotwali Karvi police station in Chitrakoot district under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986, against Ansari and others on charges of extortion and assault.
On March 7 last year, the top court granted six-week interim bail to Ansari in the case.
On Tuesday, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi took note of the submissions of senior advocate Kapil Sibal and advocate Nizam Pasha, appearing for Ansari, and regularised the interim bail granted earlier in the case.
The relief from the top court in March 2025 had paved the way for Ansari's release from Kasganj jail. He had been granted bail in all other criminal cases against him.
The bench had imposed certain conditions and later relaxed a few of them, including that he could not leave Lucknow without the investigating officer's nod.
Ansari was taken into custody in other criminal cases on November 4, 2022, and arrested under the Gangsters Act on September 6, 2024.
Granting him relief in March last year, the bench noted that he was granted bail in all other criminal cases except the Gangsters Act case.
On December 18, 2024, the Allahabad High Court rejected Ansari's bail plea in the case.
Navneet Sachan, Niyaz Ansari, Faraz Khan and Shahbaz Alam Khan are the other accused in the case.
