The Bombay High Court on Wednesday rejected gangster Abu Salem Abdul Qayyum Ansari’s plea seeking his immediate release from prison, claiming that he had completed his 25-year prison term on March 31, 2025, in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.
A bench of Justices A S Gadkari and Kamal Khatta said that Ansari has not yet completed his actual prison sentence of 25 years and hence his plea is premature.
Farhana Shah, Ansari’s lawyer, said that the Supreme Court in 2022 upheld her client’s request that he could not be sentenced to more than 25 years in prison in light of the guarantees provided to Portugal, from where he was extradited. She added that the Supreme Court ordered his release upon completion of his 25-year prison term.
Ansari filed the petition in February 2025, claiming that he was entitled to pardon for his time as an undertrial prisoner beginning October 12, 2005, as the Supreme Court recognized. The petition added that he has been given regular and special exemptions, like all other convicts, since his extradition to India in November 2005.
Ansari sought his immediate release, claiming he had completed his 25-year sentence, including pretrial detention and parole.
The central and state governments objected to the petition, saying he served only 19-and-a-half years till March 2025. In May 2025, the central government filed an affidavit, saying Ansari’s calculations were incorrect. “He attempted to combine two separate conviction terms in separate cases to reach the conclusion that he would complete the conviction term of 24 years and nine months as of December 31, 2024,” the affidavit said. She added that the center will comply with the maximum sentence of 25 years in November 2030.
The state government has fixed January 31, 2046 as the likely date for the release.
Inspector General (Prisons and Corrections) Suhas Warke said that Ansari was convicted of life imprisonment in various serious cases. He added that his imprisonment period until March 31, 2025 amounted to only 19 years, five months and 18 days.
Separate from the 1993 Mumbai serial bombings case, Ansari was accused of delivering a consignment of arms and ammunition, including to the home of Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, in January 1993. Nearly two months later, 12 explosions rocked key locations across Mumbai, killing 257 people.
Ansari fled on a false passport to Portugal, where he was arrested in September 2002, and extradited to India three years later. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in September 2017. In 2022, the Supreme Court commuted the sentence to 25 years in prison, according to Portugal’s assurances.
