Mumbai: Underworld don gangster Abu Salem was shifted to a prison outside Mumbai as "disciplinary action" following his fight with fellow inmate Mustafa Dossa, the Bombay High Court was told on Monday.
Dossa and another prisoner allegedly assaulted Salem in July at the high security Arthur Road Jail here. Salem was later shifted to Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai and Dossa was moved to Thane prison.
Salem, a key accused in the 1993 serial blasts, filed a petition in the High Court saying his transfer to Taloja was "illegal".
However, Superintendent of Arthur Road Jail Rajendra Dhamane, in an affidavit filed today, said the transfer was effected as there was an emergency, and also as a "disciplinary action".
Until the July 28 fight, Salem, extradited from Portugal in 2005, and Dossa, a suspected member of the Dawood Ibrahim gang, were on good terms, the affidavit says.
It also said the jail was overcrowded in July as there were 2,096 inmates as against the capacity of 804.
PTI
First Published: Monday, December 20, 2010, 23:51