3 min readMumbaiJan 20, 2026 09:47 PM IST
First published on: Jan 20, 2026 at 09:21 PM IST
Opposing a plea by gangster Abu Salem, convicted in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, seeking a 14-day “emergency parole”, the Maharashtra prison authorities on Tuesday told the Bombay High Court that his release could lead to him absconding, potentially creating serious diplomatic issues between India and Portugal.
The government submitted that Salem, who was extradited from Portugal in 2005, could at most be released on a two-day parole with police escort to visit Saraimir village in Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh district to meet his family following the death of his elder brother, Abu Hakim Ansari, in November last year. The authorities described the area as “communally sensitive”.
“If the petitioner/prisoner is released on parole leave for 14 days, he will abscond, as earlier his history is that after the bomb blast in Mumbai in 1993, he ran away and left India. Therefore, two-day parole with escort is appropriate.
The Government of India is under obligation to stick up assurance given by Government of India to Portugal Government and if petitioner/prisoner absconds, there will be serious issues between the two governments as well as threat to the society,” said the reply filed by Suhas M Warke, Inspector General of Prisons and Correctional Services, Maharashtra.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the prosecuting agency in the case, sought to intervene and said Salem’s release on parole could lead to a law-and-order situation. The court asked the lawyer representing the agency to take instructions from concerned officials and explain in detail the apprehended law-and-order issues at the next hearing on January 28.
A bench of Justices Ajey S Gadkari and Shyam C Chandak was hearing Salem’s plea. Salem was arrested on November 24, 2005, and was convicted in the 1993 blasts case in September 2017. He was also convicted in Portugal for travelling on a fake passport.
The state prison authorities further said that the Uttar Pradesh Police had submitted an “adverse report”, stating that Saraimir is a “communally sensitive area” and that releasing Salem “could potentially disturb the peace and tranquillity of the region”.
Citing the UP Police report, prison authorities rejected Salem’s request for a 14-day parole through an order passed by the Deputy Inspector General of Prisons, Nashik, on November 20, 2025, a decision which, they said, was justified.
Abu Salem was arrested on November 24, 2005, and was convicted in the 1993 blasts case in September 2017. (File Photo) 
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