NDTV Correspondent
Monday, March 27, 2006 (Mumbai):
Underworld don Abu Salem has claimed that Bollywood actress Manisha Koirala paid him for the murder of her secretary Ajit Diwani.
In 2001, Ajit Dewani was secretary to Manisha Koirala when he was killed by Salem's men. The reason given then was that Manisha had not paid up extortion money.
Now, according to sources in the Forensic Laboratory in Bangalore, Salem has apparently claimed that he was paid by Manisha herself to kill Dewani.
Don's confessions
In December last year, Salem was sent to the Forensic Laboratory for a number of tests including lie-detection, brain-mapping, and narco-analysis.
During his narco-analysis, the don has allegedly confessed to investigators that Manisha and Dewani were in a monetary dispute and Manisha paid him a huge amount to murder Dewani.
In February, Salem had confessed to have killed Dewani before the magistrate. Dewani was killed by two of Salem's men outside his office in Oshiwara in June 2001.
The alleged killers have been arrested and are facing trial. 11 witnesses have already deposed before the court.
Manisha, who is in Australia, was not available for comment.
Bollywood extortionist
Salem may be known as one of the men behind the Bombay blasts but it's his role as a Bollywood extortionist that investigating agencies have looked at very closely.
Gulshan Kumar, head of the multi-crore T-Series music empire was shot dead in broad daylight. This was the first open warning signal of the underworld's hold on Bollywood.
The man behind the killing was Abu Salem. It was his way of announcing his arrival as the next Bollywood don.
That was 1998, not long after Salem had split from the D-Company, angry at being denied a fair share of the film industry earnings.
He began his own career as a Bollywood extortionist, a crime roll call which would go on to form the bulk of the Mumbai police's cases against him.
After the Gulshan Kumar killing, in January 2000, Salem's operatives allegedly opened fire on film producer Rakesh Roshan at point-blank range, almost killing him.
Salem is accused of pressurising Roshan to share the overseas rights of blockbuster Kaho Na Pyaar Hai.
He has also made extortion demands on directors JP Dutta, Rajiv Rai and Subhash Ghai and actors Shah Rukh Khan, Amrish Puri, Karisma Kapoor, Govinda, Amitabh Bachchan and Salman Khan.
Salem also financed occasional films at exorbitant rates of interest to Bollywood big shots short of cash. It was during one such film that he met Monica Bedi. Salem often insisted that Bedi be given roles in films he financed.
