Oct. 25 :    Oct. 25:  Much as the Indian government tried to keep it under wraps, Abu Salem has indeed been arrested. And in Sharjah, as Mumbai police have been claiming since yesterday. But not because of their or India's efforts but because the Americans wanted the underworld don to be arrested, sources in the UAE said. Salem was picked up, most likely from a hotel, yesterday after the American investigators traced some calls he made from New Jersey. Some of those calls were made to Mumbai, demanding international distribution rights to an Aamir Khan film and accompanied by comments that the Americans found suspicious. That demand is believed to have been turned down. On October 13, Mumbai police claimed to have shot dead four gangsters who, they alleged, were plotting to murder at least three film personalities, one of them Aamir Khan. Around that time, Khan was touring the US with the Lagaan team. After listening in on the calls, the Americans have been tracking the movements of Salem, a former henchman of Dawood Ibrahim. Wanted in 20 cases of murders and extortions, Salem now operates out of Nairobi and had come on one of his frequent visits to Sharjah to watch a tri-nation cricket tournament starting tomorrow. Police in Sharjah are keeping the arrest a secret, as is the home ministry in Delhi. Asked about Salem's arrest, home secretary Kamal Pande held his silence. Only the minister of state for home, N. Vidyasagar Rao, confirmed it on television. He said the home ministry would brief the media later. It did no such thing. Mumbai police, basking in perceived success, are preparing to despatch a team to Sharjah with Salem's fingerprints. News of the arrest spread after Maharashtra deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal announced it on TV yesterday. 'I was informed Abu Salem was arrested in Sharjah,' B.S. Mohite, Mumbai joint police commissioner, said today. 'I have been asked by the CBI for fingerprint impressions of Abu Salem.' If the CBI has indeed issued the instruction to Mumbai police, it could not have acted without Delhi's knowledge. But senior Central officials would only acknowledge there was a tip-off by Mumbai police to their UAE counterpart that Salem would be at a particular house at a particular time. UAE police organised a raid but no one was found, the officials said. Salem is one of the main accused in the Mumbai blasts, having fled the city in the wake of the crackdown that followed on the Dawood gang. He was part of Dawood's team at the time but, after falling out in 1999, has been operating independently. Salem, who, according to Mumbai police, has spread terror in the Mumbai film world, is the prime accused in Gulshan Kumar's murder. 'Whatever details provided to us of the arrested man point to Salem. But we now need to make it certain with his fingerprint verification,' Mumbai police sources said. The police team would leave for Sharjah the moment it receives the Centre's green light. The sources said the state government was in constant touch with the home ministry and expected Delhi's approval soon. But Delhi is trying to keep the arrest a secret for reasons that are not immediately clear, except for the fact that since the threatening calls were made from New Jersey, the Americans themselves might want Salem. A joint CBI-Mumbai police team had gone to the UAE early this month to try and get criminals operating from there. Salem was on top of that wanted list. But the team met with no success, hitting a familiar UAE stone wall, though an extradition treaty was signed with that country last year. There is no reason to believe the UAE authorities have changed their mind so soon on the prodding of Delhi. America can get out of the UAE what India cannot possibly hope to.