Citing security reasons, the Central Bureau of Investigation has asked the state government to make arrangements for the trial of jailed criminal Abu Salem in Lucknow through video-conferencing.

According to the agency, elaborate arrangements have to be made every time Salem has to be brought from Mumbai to Lucknow for the proceedings of the case.

On August 5, CBI Director Ashwini Kumar wrote to the chief secretary for expediting the process of arranging the video-conferencing facility at the court.

The state Home Secretary, Mahesh Gupta, said: “The agency in the past, too, has sent letters regarding making arrangements for video-conferencing.”

“The Prison Department has been designated with the task of installing the equipments required for video-conferencing. The necessary orders have already been issued in this regard,” said Gupta.

“We had sent a proposal to the government about a month ago after drafting the project with the help of the National Informatics Centre, the agency to install the equipments,” he said.

“The project has been made for eight jails in UP where the video-conferencing facility would be made available. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 2 crore. But, the funds are yet to be released from the government,” he added.

The Special Task Force cell of the Delhi CBI had lodged an FIR in 1997 against Abu Salem, his wife Samira Jumani and a broker Pervez Alam for forging documents and procuring passports in fake names from the Lucknow regional passport office on July 6, 1993.

The chargesheet in the case was filed in 1999.

... contd.