Mumbai, August 25: The Supreme Court today cleared the decks for the trial of gangster Abu Salem in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case by allowing him to cross-examine witnesses who deposed against him when he was absconding.
Salem, who was extradited from Portugal in November 2005, had filed an application seeking separation of trial, contending that evidence recorded against him in his absence
could not be taken into account.
The CBI had approached the apex court challenging the TADA court order which rejected the contention that the evidences recorded against Salem in his absence was applicable against him.
Solicitor general Gopal Subramanium, appearing for the CBI, said there cannot be a fresh examination of witnesses as 600 people had deposed as witnesses in the serial blasts case when Salem was absconding.
He said if the TADA court order was allowed to continue, there were 36 other accused who are absconding in connection with the blasts case, and starting the trial afresh for each of them was not feasible.
The solicitor general said the CBI was ready to tender all relevant witnesses to Salem for cross-examination.
Following Subramanium’s statement, gangster’s counsel Rishi Malhotra gave his consent for the identfication of witnesses from the list for cross-examination. “You are at liberty to find out the witnesses from the list to [be] cross-examined,” a Bench comprising chief justice KG Balakrishnan and justices P Sathasivam and BS Chauhan told Malhotra, and accepted his plea for an expeditious trial.
–PTI–