A Delhi court on Friday dismissed the prosecution’s plea to drop stringent charges of MCOCA against underworld don Abu Salem.

The court’s refusal means stern punishment for Salem if convicted in the extortion case lodged against him in 2002. The case was lodged on a complaint by a Delhi businessman from whom Salem had allegedly demanded Rs 5 crore as protection money.

Turning down Delhi Police’s plea for withdrawal of the MCOCA charges, Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Pinki also pulled up the prosecutor “for not applying his mind” before moving the application at the behest of the Delhi government.

Delhi Police had filed the application under the provisions of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) on the ground that it was against the condition for his extradition agreed to between India and Portugal in 2005.

ASJ Pinki disagreed with the prosecution’s contentions and held that putting Salem to trial under MCOCA charges were not in violation of the extradition terms.

The judge said, “It is clear that courts of Portugal were aware about details of the cases in which accused Abu Salem has been extradited — that the crime was in cooperation with other individuals and in an organised manner and that he tried to obtain a large sum of money by making death threats… No new offence has been added in the FIR/chargesheet pending when the accused was detained in Portugal and finally extradited.”

The order assumes significance as MCOCA provisions are far more stringent than the Indian Penal Code and gives unfettered powers to the police. What worries Salem’s counsel Arvind Shukla is that under MCOCA, even confessions made to police are admissible as evidence in court.

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