The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) couldn’t have had it worse as two of its most crucial cases suffered major setbacks today, with extradition prospects of Ottavio Quattrocchi from Malaysia and Anees Ibrahim from Dubai looking bleak. While the High Court in Kuala Lumpur rejected India’s claim for extradition of Quattrocchi, another court in Dubai freed Anees Ibrahim on bail — both purportedly for lack of evidence. The fate of another high-profile case, Abu Salem’s extradition from Portugal, seems uncertain with a hopeful CBI sending an official request for his extradition to Lisbon today, with an assurance that he would not be awarded capital punishment. Quattrocchi, accused in the Bofors kickback case, was given a breather by the High Court in the Malaysian capital as the judge rejected India’s plea for a review of a lower court’s decision last week, discharging the Italian businessman stating that the case against him was too weak and that the CBI had failed to provide the court with the charges against him. A ‘‘distressed’’ CBI director P C Sharma told The Indian Express: ‘‘We expected they will be fair with us but unfortunately, we were never given a chance to prove our case.’’ The CBI, he said, was preparing to file an appeal against the court’s verdict and would pursue the extradition request ‘‘aggressively and with full strength.’’ About the inability to supply the court with charges, Sharma said there were procedures in India under which charges could be framed and chargesheet filed against an accused only in his presence. ‘‘That was why the CBI has been seeking his presence to stand trial in India,’’ he said. The CBI had handed over every oral, written and circumstantial evidence against Quattrocchi to Malaysia, he said. Barely had the CBI recovered from the news of Quattrocchi that it received another jolt: Anees Ibrahim, accused in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case and brother of Dawood Ibrahim, was set free by a Dubai court on bail. The indications had been there for the past few days, but it actually happened last night when the Dubai police found no reason to detain Anees any longer. CBI official, Deputy Inspector General (Coordination) A.K. Gupta, who had rushed to Dubai with all documents pertaining to the case returned today without any success. Sources said that UAE authorities were not impressed with the ‘‘evidence’’ produced by the CBI and saw no reason to hold Anees in custody any longer. ‘‘The CBI did not even have fingerprints of Anees to etablish his identity. Even though the authorities had no doubts about his identity but it gave them a reason to fault Indian evidence on technical grounds,’’ disclosed a Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) official. Anees, holding a Pakistani passport, was picked up by the Dubai police on December 3 for crimes he is reported to have committed there. In addition to murder of Irfan Goga in November 1998, Anees is believed to have been involved in a counterfeit currency case in Dubai. It was after his arrest that the UAE authorities realised there was also an Interpol Red Corner Alert notice against him. The CBI was informed on December 7 and DIG Gupta left the day after. Though CBI director Sharma preferred to remain tight-lipped on Anees case, saying that they had no ‘‘official confirmation’’ of his release, sources in MHA confirmed the information. ‘‘The fact that he has been freed on bail is confirmed but what we are still trying to find out are the terms and conditions of the bail. A lot will depend on the bail conditions. In fact, even his extradition hinges on that,’’ a MHA official said. An official request for Anees’ extradition was also being prepared and would soon be on its way, the official added. While the CBI director confirmed that an official extradition request for Salem, another Dawood associate had already been sent to Lisbon, and was hopeful of the outcome. Salem was arrested in the Portugal Capital on September 18 along with actress Monica Bedi following a Red Corner Notice. The CBI had already handed over to Portugal a criminal profile of Salem, wanted by India in 71 cases of murder, extortion, forgery and criminal intimidation.
