Salem implicates Bollywood actor

By Monica Chadha
BBC News, Mumbai

Salem was extradited to India from Portugal last year

Abu Salem, one of India's most wanted men, has confessed to police that he delivered arms to top Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt before Mumbai blasts.

The 15-page written confession, that had been kept confidential, was read out by the judge in a court in India's commercial capital, Mumbai (Bombay).

Sanjay Dutt had earlier denied any involvement in the blasts.

Salem is a prime suspect in the 1993 serial bombings in Mumbai that killed 250 people.

Accusations

In a written confession, read by Judge PD Kode in the court, Salem, who is an underworld don, said he visited Dutt's home in Mumbai with an accomplice - another accused in the bomb blasts case.

Sanjay Dutt denies any involvement in the blasts

The actor took three AK-56 rifles, some hand grenades and some ammunition from them, but later Dutt returned two rifles, he said.

In his confession, he also said he did not know of the bomb blast plan or the reason why it was carried out.

Salem, one of the accused in the bomb blasts case, has been questioned about his involvement in the serial blasts since his extradition from Portugal last year.

Other cases of extortion, murder and kidnapping are also pending against him.

Dutt was arrested in March 1993 along with 86 others over the bombings and charged under an anti-terrorism law for possessing an AK-56 rifle and destroying evidence by disposing of the rifle.

He was released on bail in October 1995 and was asked to attend the hearings every week since then.

The next hearing of this case is scheduled for 16 March.