Mumbai: 1993 bomb blasts accused Mustaffa
Dossa withdrew a petition blaming Maharashtra minister
Ramesh Bagwe for booking him on charges of attempt to murder
in a case of assault on gangster Abu Salem.
Dossa withdrew his plea after justices Ajay Khanvilkar
and Pramod Kode asked him to file a fresh petition, saying his
application was not in proper format and did not contain
annexures and documents on which he was relying.
Dossa had written a letter from jail to the High Court
denying charges of assault and blaming Minister of State for
Home Bagwe for involving him.
This letter, praying for quashing
charges, was converted into a petition by the court.
The court had appointed an amicus curiae but he did
not appear. Later, advocate Rizwan Merchant appeared for
Dossa.
"We would file fresh petition on Friday and the matter
should appear on the board on Monday," Merchant told PTI.
According to police, Dossa and his associate Abdul
Qayoom, had allegedly attacked Salem with a sharp edged spoon
on July 24 in a cell of Arthur Road jail. Later, Salem was
shifted to Taloja jail while Dossa was moved to Thane Central
jail.
Dossa, a former associate of fugitive mob boss Dawood
Ibrahim, alleged in the letter that serious charge of attempt
to murder was lodged at the behest of Bagwe. Dossa said he
himself was attacked by Salem and two other undertrials -
Manish Thakur and Hasan Mehndi and claimed that injuries
sustained by Salem on nose and cheek were self-inflicted.
Dossa had urged the court to quash the attempt to
murder charges and take action against the minister. "Bagawe
may kindly be reprimanded for his uncalled for interference in
the matter," he said.
Dossa questioned the charges of attempt to murder
saying the injuries sustained by Salem were minor. He argued
that at the most the charges could be that of causing simple
injuries.
The gangster, he said, was not admitted to any
hospital as indoor patient and on the next day of the attack
he was taken to Bhopal for a court case. This indicated that
injuries were minor, Dossa said.
-PTI
