MCOCA charges against Salem to be dropped

In a relief for gangster Abu Salem, the Maharashtra government has told the Bombay high court that it would drop the charges under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against him in a murder case.

The government has given an undertaking to the court that it would drop the charges under the MCOCA within two weeks, court sources said.

Ajit Dewani, a one-time secretary of actress Manisha Koirala and a film producer, was killed in 2002, allegedly at Salem's instance.

After Salem was extradited from Portugal in 2005, MCOCA charges were slapped against him in this case.

Salem filed a petition in the Bombay high court, saying he was not supposed to be tried for the charges other than those for which he was extradited.

"Charging him under MCOCA was breach of extradition conditions. That's why the government will have to drop MCOCA charges," said his lawyer Sudeep Pasbola. The trial in the case is yet to begin.

Besides the Dewani case, Salem is facing trial in seven other cases, including the 1993 Mumbai blasts conspiracy case.