Abu Salem Comes To Swati Sathe's Aid

Abu Salem Comes To Swati Sathe's Aid Dated : February 23, 2009 3:03 IST Source : DNA , Menaka Rao & Poornima Swaminathan Mumbai: Text There seems to be no end to trouble for Arthur Road prison officials. Three months after a judicial inquiry found the jail staff guilty of beating up at least 30 prisoners, allegedly involved in the 11/7 serial train blasts and the Aurangabad arms haul case, an accused in the latter case has written about how the jail staff are arm-twisting him to withdraw his complaint. In the letter, written to a source who can't be named for security reasons, the prisoner (name withheld) has alleged that at the behest of Swati Sathe, senior superintendent of the prison, underworld don Abu Salem, his aide Riyaz Siddiqui, Mehendi Hasan and Abdul Qayyum -- key aides of the fugitive underworld don, Dawood Ibrahim --are putting pressure on him to withdraw his complaint. The four-page letter is handwritten in reasonably good English, a copy of which is with DNA. In it, he has also written that he fears for his life. According to the letter, around 4.30 pm on January 30, the prisoner was summoned out of the high-security aanda cell. When he stepped out, he saw Abu Salem waiting for him with a couple of other people. Salem immediately got to the point and tried hard to convince the prisoner to drop his allegations against Sathe and the jail administration. Before he left, Salem offered him a box of sweets. The next day, he was called to barrack number 10, where Salem is lodged. From there, Siddiqui took him to Sathe's office, located at the jail entrance. The prisoner writes that Sathe was seated in her office and "pleaded with and pressurised him" to withdraw his complaint. Minutes later he was threatened that if he didn't pay heed, "his family and children would be harmed". After two days, the prisoner gave in and agreed to withdraw the complaint. After he agreed to withdraw the complaint, the jail staff started to think of ways to explain to the court about the sudden withdrawal of the allegations.

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