Mumbai: Mustaffa Dossa, 1993 bomb blast
accused, today withdrew a petition blaming Maharashtra
Minister of state for Home 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 Justice Ajay Khanvilkar and
Justice 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 Bagwe for involving
him. This letter, praying for quashing charges, was converted
into a petition by the Court.
The Court had appointed an amicus curaie (friend of the
Court) 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 said.
According to police, Dossa, a 1993 bomb blast accused,
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 Don 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.
PTI
