New Delhi, Oct. 27 :    New Delhi, Oct. 27:  Gangster Abu Salem is being detained along with a Bollywood actress in a Sharjah hotel despite the inability of the Union government to 'confirm' it. Salem, an accused in the Mumbai blasts as well as the murder of cassette king Gulshan Kumar, was unofficially detained by authorities of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after American investigators stumbled on a phone call he made from New Jersey demanding international rights to an Aamir Khan film. Sources said a small-time actress, who had a role in the Govinda-Sunjay Dutt starrer Jodi No. 1 and was accompanying Salem, was also detained on suspicion that her papers were not in order. She was questioned for travelling with a fake Indian passport and under an assumed name, Fawjia. 'She was travelling under false identity,' an Indian official said. Officials in Delhi had claimed in private during the day that Salem, once the right-hand of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, was 'let off' after questioning but other sources confirmed tonight that he is still being detained in Sharjah's Sheba Hotel. Sources in Delhi said Sharjah police are likely to hold Salem for another week so that the Americans can interrogate him and complete their background checks. US investigators are interested in him not because of the Indian warrant but because of New Jersey's link to the September 11 hijackings and the current anthrax phobia sweeping America. If the Americans do not find any connection between Salem and the terror strikes, it is expected that he will be allowed to leave. Police sources in Mumbai had been claiming that the Centre was not too eager to catch Salem since he had fallen out with Dawood, Delhi's public enemy number one. They cited the case of another Dawood-estranged gangster, Chhota Rajan, who exploited 'bureaucratic delays' in India to slip out despite being arrested in Thailand. Significantly, the Maharashtra government refused to retract its statement on the arrest of Salem despite conflicting signals from Delhi. For the record, the Indian external affairs ministry said there has been no 'confirmation' of the 'arrest' or 'detention' of Salem. 'We are in touch with the UAE authorities on this subject and closely monitoring the situation,' Nirupama Rao, spokesperson of the foreign office, said. If the foreign office chose its words carefully, unnamed sources in the CBI had no hesitation in asserting that 'no such arrest or detention had taken place anywhere in any of the emirates within the UAE'. 'There is no basis for the report that any person by the name of Salem has been picked up or arrested anywhere in the UAE,' CBI sources told PTI, quoting a note from Dubai police, who represent Interpol. However, others pointed out that Salem, among the most wanted in India, could hardly be expected to travel under his real name. The sources in Delhi said Salem could be using a Pakistani passport. Officials in Mumbai said the state government had kept a police team ready with all the evidence it had against Salem, including fingerprints required to establish his identity and press for his extradition. Mumbai police claimed to have arrested Salem in an extortion case in the early nineties and have his fingerprints. The sources said deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal had gone public with the capture of the gangster on television to prevent a replay of the Rajan episode. Bhujbal, who holds the home portfolio, had gambled on the presumption that the announcement would force the Centre's hand. He had hoped that the Union government would move fast to extradite the held gangster, wanted in Mumbai for at least 20 cases of murder, extortion and kidnapping. The sources said they were surprised how the Centre feigned ignorance. They said the CBI was under pressure to deny the gangster's detention to save the Union government a loss of face. They said Rajan, shot and wounded by the D-Company in Bangkok last November, had got off in a similar fashion.