Mumbai, Feb. 25: Gangster Abu Salem was today sentenced to 25 years in jail for the 1995 murder of Mumbai-based builder Pradeep Jain.

Salem, 47, has spent nine years in jail since his extradition from Portugal in 2005. Under the terms of the extradition pact, he cannot be jailed for more than 25 years or be given a death sentence.

His lawyers raised a hue and cry after the special Tada court announced the sentence, insisting that Salem could be jailed for 16 years at the most as he had already spent several years behind bars as an undertrial.

One of Salem's prime lawyers, Saba Qureshi, said her client would move the Supreme Court against the sentence. According to norms, an appeal against a Tada court judgment cannot be placed before a high court.

"The sovereign assurance was given by the government of India, which is the executive wing.... The judiciary has nothing to do with such assurances as both are independent. Let them go to the Supreme Court, we will see," said special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.

A former aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, Salem is embroiled in 52 criminal cases. Under the extradition pact signed by then Union home minister L.K. Advani and Portugal, Salem can be tried in only eight of the cases.

The gangster's former driver, Mehendi Hassan, and another Mumbai builder, V.K. Jhamb, were also convicted in the Pradeep Jain murder. Hassan was sentenced to life today but Jhamb, 86, was not given a fresh term as he has spent seven years in jail. He is out on bail and has not been taken into custody.

Jhamb had first asked Salem to intervene in a property dispute he had with Jain. But when Jain refused to succumb to Salem's threats and extortion demands, the gangster decided to kill him.

Jain was shot dead on March 7, 1995, outside his Juhu bungalow for apparently refusing to hand over his property to Salem. Jain's family told the court he had received several threats from D-company.

After the 1992 Bombay blasts, Salem fled to Karachi with Dawood's team. In October 1994, he was summoned by Dawood's brother, Anees Ibrahim, to Dubai.

In Dubai, Salem, Hassan and another D-company henchman, Naeem Khan, conspired with Anees to force Jain to surrender the rights to a property in Dongri.

Salem did not return to India after that. He was finally arrested in Portugal and sent back to India with stern caveats from a Lisbon court. His trial began in 2008.

Salem was initially lodged in Mumbai's Arthur Road Jail. He was then shifted to Taloja Jail in Maharashtra's Raigad district, where he faced an attempt on his life in 2013. He is now likely to be taken to Thane jail for security reasons.