Pradeep Jain murder case: Court convicts gangster Abu Salem, two others

A TADA court found Salem guilty of the murder of builder Pradeep Jain, who was shot dead by assailants outside his Juhu bungalow in March, 1995. The police alleged that he had refused to give up a huge property to Salem.

This is the first that Salem has been convicted in a case involving him in India after he was deported in 2005.

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“I have found credibility in the evidence produced by the prosecution and therefore hold Salem, Mehdi Hasan and A K Jhamb guilty of the offence,” the court observed.

“Abu Salem has been convicted under section 302 (murder) 120 B (conspiracy) of the IPC and other relevant sections of TADA,” said Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.

On Friday, the court had reserved its judgement in the case till Monday.

According to the court’s order, Salem’s role was proved not only on the point of Jain’s murder, but also on the extortion calls made thereafter. Three flats owned by the Jain’s were given to Salem as a result, if the extortion calls made to the victim’s wife Jyoti Jain. The flats were sold by Jhamb and the money was transferred through the hawala transaction in Dubai to Salem.

Hasan was booked for procuring of firearms which were used to strike terror. It was their objective to eliminate about the Jain’s for which these firearms were used.

The prosecutor, Ujjwal Nikam said that Salem is now looked upon as a terrorist after the court added a charge in the TADA act which is usually applied in blast cases.

According to police, on March 7, 1995, Jain was shot dead by assailants outside his Juhu bungalow after he allegedly refused to part with his huge property to Salem.

Salem, another builder Jhamb and Hassan were facing trial in the case. While accused Naeem Khan turned approver, another accused Riyaz Siddiqui, who had also become approver, later turned hostile in the court. Trial of Siddiqui was later separated.

Since the trial began in 2008, the prosecution has so far examined around 25 witnesses in the case while defence examined one witness.

The court, in January last year, had dropped some sections against Salem in the case after the prosecution sought for the same saying that some charges need to be withdrawn in order to maintain cordial relations between two sovereign countries – India and Portugal.

Three statements that helped prosecution clinch the case

According to the prosecution, these are the three statements, which helped them nail the case.

Sunil Jain, Pradeep Jain’s brother:

“In the first week of October 1994, I was sitting in my office. Around 12 am, I received a phone call and the caller told me that he was Abu Salem speaking from Dubai. He asked me to handover the Kol Dongri plot, else he would kill all of us. I again received a phone call in October 10, 1994, from Abu Salem. He played out a conversation of the murder of one Mr Coelho at Janki Kutir being committed by his men. The next morning we read about the murder in the papers and we became scared. On March 7, 1995, Anil, Pradeep and I were in our office at 8 pm. At about 8:15 p, two persons brought my watchman Vishnu in the office with their arms around his neck. They came inside the office and asked who Pradeep was. They left Vishnu and started shooting bullets at Pradeep and me. I sustained a bullet through the right arm, while Pradeep received several bullet injuries. Ashok (Pradeep’s brother) came from the first floor and he along with me and Vishnu, picked up Pradeep and took him to Cooper hospital where he was declared dead. Thirteen days after Pradeep’s death, we received a call from Abu Salem, when he instructed us to hand over any property if we were not able to give money. He told that he will send Jhamb to execute the agreement.”

Jyoti Jain, Pradeep Jain’s wife:

“In the second week of February, 1995, the phone rang. I picked up the receiver and the person at the other end told me he was Salem talking from Dubai. I passed the telephone to my husband Pradeep. After the long talk, my husband put the receiver down in an enraged condition. On March 20, 1995 at about 7:30 pm, the phone rang again. I picked up the receiver and I recognised the voice. It was Abu Salem. He started laughing and asked me whether I was not mourning. I became furious and started abusing him. He told me that he killed my husband because he did not pay his money on time and he would kill my brother-in-laws if we did not pay up.”

Naem Khan, accused turned approver:

“I worked as a typist in Dubai for one year and resided there till 2005. I usually came to Mumbai. After 1979, I was also bringing electronic goods from Dubai and selling the same in Manish Market in Mumbai. I know Abu Salem since 1992. I met him first in his office in Santacruz. Mehendi Hasan drove his vehicle. In November, 1994, I received a call from Abu Salem from Dubai. He told me that there was a very good plot of land situated in Andheri, Kol Dongri area, which belonged to Ashok Jain. He told me that he had a meeting with a few others where it was discussed that if Ashok Jain was removed from the property they could earn huge profits. He also expressed that if needed we could kill any of the Jain brothers. From the first week of December, 1994, I started meeting Ashok Jain as per Salem’s orders. Some day in the first week of January 1995, I received a phone (call) from Abu Salem and he instructed me to contact Ashok Jain and tell them that another party was ready to give Rs 2 crore for the property. I informed Ashok Jain accordingly and struck a deal of Rs 1 crore, which would be paid in installments of Rs 10 lakh per month. Ashok Jain paid me the money and Abu Salem asked me to deliver the money to one Abdullah and Mehendi Hasan. On March 2, 1995, I received a pager message from Abu Salem and I immediately contacted him and found him to be agitated with Pradeep Jain’s behaviour towards Salem. On March 8, 1995, I read about Pradeep Jain’s murder in the paper. I immediately contacted Abu Salem and he told me that such people understood this language and would start paying the amount. After a few days, I called Abu Salem and asked him what happened to the flats in Andheri, he told me that Jhamb was taking care of it.”