IANS
 
Hyderabad, Dec 20: Underworld don Abu Salem is being taken back to Mumbai on Thursday after an Andhra Pradesh court remanded him in judicial custody for two weeks in a fake passport case.

Salem, who was brought on Wednesday, was produced before the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court amid tight security. The judge remanded him in judicial custody till January 3.

Salem was later shifted to Chanchalgunda Central Jail and will be taken back to Mumbai by train later in the day.

The fake passport case registered against Salem here dates back to 2001. He and his girl friend Monica Bedi were charged with acquiring passports under fictitious names in 2001 by furnishing a false residential address at Kurnool, in Andhra Pradesh.

Salem's counsel urged the court to conduct next hearing through videoconference as his travel from Mumbai and back poses a risk to him. The judge agreed to look into the request.

Salem was brought to the court late Wednesday but the court wanted the police to bring him back again on Thursday morning. Salem spent the night at Chanchalguda jail, where her girlfriend Monica was lodged for more than a year.

Salem faces charges in several cases, including the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts.

Salem and Monica were arrested in Lisbon in 2002. After a long process, they were extradited to India in 2005. While Salem was lodged in the Mumbai jail, Monica was brought to Hyderabad for trial in the fake passport case.

After spending five years behind bars in Portugal and India, Monica walked free July 25 this year after the court granted her bail.

The CBI court here last year sentenced her to five years' imprisonment, which was later reduced to three years by the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

In May this year, the Supreme Court granted her bail in the fake passport case but she could not be released due to a similar case pending against her in Bhopal. She was brought back here in July after the Bhopal court acquitted her in the case.