Abu Salem at a Mumbai court. (Reuters file picture)

Mumbai, Nov. 14: A day after CBI officials were quoted as saying Abu Salem had “confessed” his role in the Bombay blasts, the designated Tada court muzzled the interrogators.

Special judge P.D. Kode told the agency not to air any information relating to the probe into the 1993 explosions before it had been placed before the court.

The court order turns on its head CBI director U.S. Misra’s earlier promise of keeping Salem’s interrogation open and transparent.

The order came after defence lawyer Ashok Saraogi told the judge the agency was feeding stories to the media about what his client may have told his questioners. Prosecution lawyer C.S. Sharma, however, denied the CBI had revealed any information to the media.

The agency was much more cautious today, quickly denying a TV report that Salem had named actor Sanjay Dutt during his grilling. It then went on to deny that it had obtained any confession from Salem.

But the gangster’s lawyers kept up the pressure, requesting the court to shift him to judicial custody.

“We asked for judicial custody of Salem in the light of what transpired yesterday,” said defence counsel Owais Siddiqui, alluding to the CBI’s claims before the media yesterday. Legal experts said the court is unlikely to allow this.

“A person wanted for the Bombay blasts cannot be put in judicial custody. He has to be interrogated by the police,” said senior lawyer Dipesh Mehta.

The defence also asked to be allowed to be present at Salem’s interrogations ? along with a police officer above the rank of superintendent or a metropolitan magistrate.

The demand prompted howls of protest from the CBI. The court said it would give a decision on November 16.

Before the court passed the gag order today, a CBI official couldn’t resist giving the media another nugget about what Salem had told his interrogators. The security around Salem was so tight, he said, partly because the don had expressed the fear that his rivals might try to bump him off.

“He indicated he would prefer to be in our custody than anywhere else,” the official said.

Salem, who was taken to St George’s Hospital under heavy security for a mandatory check-up, was questioned at an undisclosed location today. The special task force headquarters of the CBI at Madam Cama Road, however, remained as impregnable as yesterday with Mumbai police commandos guarding the premises.

The flurry of action in the court coincided with additions to the defence team. An advocate from Lucknow has already joined it and Harjot Singh, a lawyer from Birmingham who had represented Salem in Portugal, will follow suit.

Monica flats

Mumbai police, itching to question Monica Bedi as Salem is currently out of their reach, has been hunting for any offence she may have committed in the city to get her here.

They think they have found one: the starlet had apparently not paid fully for the two flats she had bought from Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) in Oshiwada and Jogeshwari. Both flats were sealed in 2001, police commissioner A.N. Roy told reporters.

Monica, charged with two instances of passport forgery, is being questioned in Hyderabad and will be grilled later in Bhopal.

Mumbai police are also looking for Bobby Anand, the producer who allegedly procured the two flats for Bedi. The police believe he was a key Salem aide. Anand has reportedly fled the country.