Cops may invoke MCOCA in Abu Salem attack case

S Ahmed Ali TNN

Mumbai: The Navi Mumbai crime branch has sought legal opinion if the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) can be invoked in the Abu Salem attack case.
    Devendra Jagtap alias JD had shot at the extradited gangster inside Navi Mumbai’s Taloja jail at the behest of Chhota Shakeel, said the investigators.
    The police will have to fulfil all the conditions or the court will drop MCOCA charges like it did in the 2010 murder case of advocate Shahid Azmi, said sources.
    In the Shahid Azmi murder case, charges under the Act were dropped as the court found no evidence to suggest that “pecuniary (monetary) gains were made in the crime”, a mandatory aspect for MCOCA.
    “We are doing the groundwork to find out if MCOCA can be applied or not. It’s important to invoke MCOCA as it will send a strong message that such acts won’t be tolerated. Also, there’s a possibility of Salem’s lawyer approaching the Portugal government for his repatriation from India,” said a senior IPS officer. Salem is being tried for his role in the 1993 serial blasts in the city, murder and a dozen extortion cases.
    Salem was extradited from Portugal in 2005 after the Indian government gave an executive assurance that he would not be awarded the death penalty or charged with any section of the law which entailed a jail term of more than 25 years.
    The police claim to have established pecuniary gain in the Salem attack case; JD, who was going through a financial crunch, had allegedly received Rs 5 lakh as supari (contract money) from Shakeel’s gang in installments. Shakeel wanted to eliminate Salem due to previous enmity, said the police.
    JD’s friend Manoj Lahmane, who had allegedly supplied the country-made revolver used in the attack on Salem, does not have a past criminal record. “Shakeel and Fahim Machmach, who acted as the mediator between JD and Shakeel, will be shown as wanted accused,” said an investigating officer.
    The Navi Mumbai police said Salem survived the attack because of the three-ftlong cardboard sheets the jail authorities had placed on the gates of each cell.
    “The sheets were placed to prevent cats and rats from entering the cells,” said deputy commissioner of police Shrikant Pathak.
STRINGENT RULES FOR THE STRINGENT ACT
The police had invoked the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) in the 2010 murder case of advocate Shahid Azmi but the court dropped the charges as investigators couldn’t establish that pecuniary (monetary) gains were made in the crime
    The police claim to have established pecuniary gain in the Salem attack case; JD, who was going through a financial crunch, had allegedly received Rs 5 lakh as supari (contract money) from Shakeel’ gang in installments
In 2010, the court dropped MCOCA in the murder of Matka king Suresh Bhagat and six others who were allegedly killed by his estranged wife Jaya and son Hitesh Bhagat in 2008. In this case too, the police had failed to convince the court about the pecuniary gain