A Delhi court on Thursday sent gangster Abu Salem to jail for seven years in an extortion case of 2002. The court had on May 26 held him guilty of demanding ₹ 5 crore from Delhi businessman Ashok Gupta.
According to the complaint lodged by Mr. Gupta at the Greater Kailash police station in South Delhi, he received two phone calls on April 2, 2002 from Abu Salem who asked him to call back on three numbers in Dubai for further instructions.
Abu Salem also threatened the complainant that if he did not follow his instructions, he and his family would face dire consequences, the complaint said.
On the same day, voice recorders were installed at the residence of Mr. Gupta and the telephone conversation between the complainant and Abu Salem were held and recorded, the prosecution said.
Abu Salem made several calls to the complainant and his family demanding ₹5 crore as ransom money, the prosecution charged.
Four acquitted
There were six accused in the case. One of them died during the trial, while the remaining four were acquitted by the court.
Rejecting counsel’s plea for a lenient punishment, additional sessions judge Tarun Sahrawat said: “The convict is not entitled to leniency from this court. Hence, I award convict Abu Salem Ansari the maximum sentence of rigorous imprisonment for seven years and to pay a fine of ₹10,000.”
“The convict... deserves severe punishment of such a magnitude that the same should be a lessonfor others,” the judge said.