UNI
  
Mumbai, Jan 3: The TADA court today remanded extradited underworld don Abu Salem to judicial custody till January 31 in the 1995 Pradeep Jain murder case, in order to facilitate the CBI to obtain his custody in connection with the 1993 serial bomb blast case.

Special public prosecutor Ujwal Nikam submitted before TADA judge P Bavkar that the ATS (anti-terrorist squad), which is investigating into the Jain murder case, did not require his (Salem) further custody since the reports of polygram, brain mapping and narco analysis conducted on the accused in Bangalore were yet to be received.

Nikam said the prosecution would seek further police custody of the gangster, if required, after the receipt of the scientific test reports from Bangalore.

Nikam also informed the court that Salem had made a confessional statement of his involvement in the Jain murder before the competent authority. He said the accused on December 31 had expressed his desire to make a confessional statement to the investigating agency following which DCP Zone-IX had recorded his statement yesterday, and the same was made before chief metropolitan magistrate S Shirke today.

Of the other four accused in the Jain murder case, the TADA court extended the judicial custody of Riyaz Ahmed Siddique to January 31.

However, the CBI took his custody today in connection with the serial blasts case.

Riyaz had made confession before the ATS that he, along with Salem, had gone to film star Sanjay Dutt's house to deliver a weapon during 1993.

The court also extended the police custody of Mohd Rahim and Mohd Hasan to January 17, while 78-year-old builder Virendrakumar Jhamb's custody was further extended to January 12.

Meanwhile, Salem's lawyer Ashok Sarogi moved another bail application before the TADA court, which will come up for hearing on January 12.

Advocate Sarogi later told reporters that his client Salem had not given any confessional statement regarding his involvement in the Jain murder case of 1995 till yesterday, when he had met him. If Salem had made any confession after their meeting, it would be under duress by the investigating agency, he said.

The builder is the fifth person arrested in the Pradeep Jain murder case after the ATS took custody of Salem who was extradited to India from Portugal on November 11 last year.