Don fears cops as much as rival gangs

Mumbai:The confusion over who would represent underworld don Abu Salem in the courts has finally come to an end.

The two men chosen to represent Salem are Ashok Sarogi and Mohammed Siddiqui. A battery of lawyers that includes Rashid Ansari, a distant relative of Salem, will assist the two.

Although senior CBI officials have been harping on the fact that Salem has been admitting his role in the bomb blasts Sarogi lost no time as terming this nonsense.

He stated that that no passports had been recovered from Salem by the CBI and that the former don would only be questioned in the cases pertaining to the bomb blasts.

Guarding the gangster

The newly appointed lawyers also lost no time in expressing concern over Salem's safety.

Salem has expressed the fear that henchmen of Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Shakeel could well be waiting for a chance to eliminate him for cooperating with the CBI.

The CBI has beefed up the security for Salem following his lawyers? statements.

However rival gangs are not all that Salem fears.

The extradited don is also apprehensive of the treatment the Mumbai police would mete out to him once he gets transferred to their custody.

Sarogi stated that while Salem was satisfied with the security provided by the CBI, he was apprehensive of the intentions of the Mumbai Police in eliminating the former don.

"The CBI is quite nice but it?s difficult to predict what the Mumbai police will do once they have Salem in their custody," said Sarogi.

CBI officials stated that Salem was being treated ?humanely? and was not being forced to answer questions.

They added that even Monica Bedi had said she would prefer CBI custody ? a testimony to the fact that the CBI is a civilized agency.

Salem, who was extradited from Portugal by the CBI on Friday in connection with the 1993 serial bomb blasts, is currently housed in Mumbai?s Arthur road jail.

He will remain in CBI custody till November 23.