Abu Salem will flee if granted parole: Maharashtra govt tells HC
Mumbai (PTI): Gangster Abu Salem will abscond if granted parole and this could cause serious issues between India and Portugal, the country from where he was extradited, the Maharashtra government told the Bombay High Court on Tuesday.
The government, in an affidavit filed before the court, opposed Salem's petition seeking 14 days of parole, citing his elder brother's death, and said that at the most, he can be granted two days' emergency parole.
When the plea came up for hearing before a bench of Justices A S Gadkari and Shyam Chandak, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said it was the prosecuting agency and hence, it should be impleaded as a respondent in the petition.
If Salem is granted bail, then it would lead to law and order problems, the CBI said.
The bench said it would hear the plea on January 28.
The affidavit, filed by Inspector General of Prisons Suhas Warke, said Salem was an international gangster who had been indulging in criminal activities for decades.
Salem was extradited from Portugal on an extradition treaty, along with other conditions agreed upon by both countries, it added.
"If the petitioner (Salem) is granted parole, then he will abscond again, as even in 1993 he fled the country," the affidavit pointed out.
It further said the Government of India is under an obligation to stick to the conditions and assurances given by it to the Government of Portugal at the time of Salem's extradition.
"If the petitioner absconds now, then there will be serious issues between the two countries (India and Portugal) as well as a threat to society," the affidavit said.
In Portugal, Salem had been convicted of travelling on a fake passport. He was arrested in Lisbon, Portugal, and extradited to India in November 2005.
As per the affidavit, after Salem sought parole from the jail authorities, a report was sought from the Uttar Pradesh police, where he intends to travel.
The UP police submitted an adverse report and said the place Saraymir in Azamgarh, where Salem wants to go, was a communally sensitive area. Hence, Salem's request for 14 days' parole was rejected, the affidavit said.
Salem can be granted two days' parole, and the travel time will be counted towards his sentence, it said.
In 1993, Salem fled India to evade arrest, the affidavit claimed.
He has been sentenced to life imprisonment in three cases, including the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, and sentenced to 25 years in jail in several other cases.
Salem, in his plea filed last month, sought parole as his elder brother, Abu Hakim Ansari, passed away in November 2025. 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, his plea was rejected by the jail authorities through an order on 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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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
