From taxi driver to gangster: A travel into the life of Abu Salem

The gangster Abu Salem who has been behind the bars for over one decade now facing murder and extortion charges, surprisingly once worked as a mechanic and a taxi driver.

Born in Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh district in 1968, Salem took birth in a poor family. His father was a lawyer by profession but Salem at an early age had to begin supporting his family financially. 
Initially, he set up a mechanic shop in his home town followed by driving a taxi in Delhi and eventually moving to Mumbai.

He stayed in Jogeshwari area where he spent 20 years of his life. At an early age of 18, Salem committed his first crime. Being involved in riots, Salem was accused of killing one man.

In 1985, Salem became a part of the underworld and began smuggling gold. It was in 1993 that Salem’s notorious activities reached its pinnacle when his involvement in Mumbai bomb blast was established. 
As a consequence, Salem had to leave the country and reach Dubai where he came in direct contact with Dawood Ibrahim, Anees Ibrahim and Chhota Shakeel and started taking care of Dwaood’s extortion operations related to Bollywood.

Four years later in 1997, Salem was declared the main accused of music baron Gulshan Kumar’s murder.
From taxi driver to gangster: A travel into the life of Abu Salem

Salem’s criminal activities became seamless and eventually he became the main conspirator in many cases like hatching a plan to kill actress Manisha Koirala’s secretary, the murder of builder Pradip Ranjan, murder of producer Mukesh Duggal. 
He was also accused of conspiring against producer Rajiv Rai and actor director Rakesh Roshan.

Declared a fugitive, Salem was at last caught in Lisbon, Portugal with his alleged second wife Monica Bedi. His whereabouts were traced through GPS which tracked his satellite phone. 

After serving sentence in Portugal, he was extradited to India to face trail. In 2006, 8 charges were filed against him by a special TADA court and he was lodged into Mumbai’s Arthur jail.
Salem married Sumaira Jumani in 1991 but due to his criminal activities Sumaira took an an ex-parte divorce from him while he was in jail. 

Sumaira alleged that she had a troubled marriage with Salem and told how violent he became with her. 

Watching her and her 8-year old son’s life under constant threat due to her husband’s involvement in underworld, Sumaira decided to part ways.
Salem’s next love interest became actress Monica Bedi. 

One day, Salem called Monica and offered her a show in Dubai. Monica was asked to perform in the show to which she agreed. 

Few days later, Monica again received a call for confirming her performance in the show. 
Not knowing that she was talking to the underworld don Abu Salem, Monica got close to the caller and the phone calls ended up Monica visiting Dubai. 

Still unaware of Salem’s real identity, Monica had begun developing feelings for him. 

Visiting Dubai twice to meet him, Monica had believed that the man she was in love with was Arsalan Ali- the name Salem used to fake his identity.
Monica kept calling him to Mumbai to meet her but Salem always came up with an excuse. Finally, on her 3rd trip to Dubai, Monica got to know Salem’s reality. But it was too late for her. Both had developed for each other by now. 

Monica once said that whenever she visited Salem in Dubai he did not let her return to Mumbai. He feared that police might trace her, interrogate her leading to the whereabouts of Salem. Therefore, the couple started living in Dubai.
Allegedly, the two had also consummated their married. However, these allegations were denied by Monica. After the couple started receiving threats from the Mumbai underworld, the couple moved to Switzerland and later to Portugal where the Interpol arrested them in 2002.

After serving the sentence there, both of them were deported to India in 2005. Bedi was booked under the acts 20 (cheating), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and section 12 of the Passport Act. The jail term given to her was reduced with the years she had already served in Portugal jail.
By now Monica had already realized that they were not made each other and the couple separated.

Once again in 2013, Abu Salem fell for a Mumbai girl and married her on a train to Lucknow. Forty six-year- old gangster Abu Salem married for the third time on 8th January. The gangster’s new wife is believed to be 20 years younger than him.

Salem’s nikah took place while he was being brought to Lucknow from Mumbai for a hearing in a fake passport case.

The two policemen and a relative became witness to Abu Salem’s marriage while the Qazi consummated the marriage over the phone.
 
Salem’s new wife, who is a resident of Mumbra area in Mumbai, used to attend all hearings of Abu Salem that took place in Lucknow and Mumbai. That is when the two met each other, fell in love and consequently decided to marry.

Reportedly, Abu Salem’s new wife has been looking after his left over property in Mumbai.

Courtsy : IndiaTv
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