MP government rejects ADM's request to stay in jail with Abu Salem to write fifth book

According to key sources in the general administration department (GAD) of the MP government in Bhopal, Khan’s written request on March 28 was turned down.

In this file photo, Abu Salem. (File)

BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh (MP) government on Friday turned down Guna additional district magistrate (ADM) Niyaz Khan’s request to stay a month at Taloja Jail in Navi Mumbai, where gangster Abu Salem is lodged, for his upcoming fiction novel 'Love Demands Blood.'

According to key sources in the general administration department (GAD) of the MP government in Bhopal, Khan’s written request on March 28 was turned down.

Sources close to Niyaz Khan told the New Indian Express that the administrative official will decide his future course of action after receiving the GAD rejection.

After studying why it was rejected, Khan is likely to write to the State chief secretary.

On March 28, Khan had written to the State's GAD via the Guna district collector for a month's leave and stay at the Taloja Central Jail to do research work for his fiction novel 'Love Demands Blood,' which is inspired by Abu Salem and film actor Monica Bedi’s love story.

Meanwhile, Khan's request to the State government invited the ire of the saffron brigade on Friday as a delegation of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) went to the Guna collector's office and submitted a memorandum addressed to the President of India and the MP Governor.
 

In the memorandum signed by Guna VHP secretary Pramod Bhargava, the saffron group termed the request wrong as Salem is accused in several cases, including the 1993 Mumbai blasts.

VHP activists demanded that a probe be conducted to ascertain why the administrative official even thought of writing a book on Abu Salem. "If he was so eager to pen a book, he could have penned a book inspired by legendary personalities, who attained martyrdom for the country," read the memorandum.

The VHP memorandum added that if Khan is allowed permission to stay in jail with Salem, then in the future he could even seek permission to go to Pakistan write a book inspired by the love life of most wanted fugitive Dawood Ibrahim and former Bollywood actor Mandakini.

Meanwhile, a VHP leader, Suresh Sharma, wrote on social media that it would have been better if the ADM would have spent a month with families of those soldiers who attained martyrdom fighting for the country on the border. 

The officer who has been part of the MP government for the last 20 years had written that to complete his thriller, he needed to stay in the same jail where as Salem. 

He also needed to closely research on key points, including whether Abu Salem repents his alleged crimes, does he still treasure his relationship with Monica Bedi and among others.

"I've already completed around 80% of my novel which is not at all Salem's biography, but an action packed crime thriller inspired by the love life of the gangster and Monica Bedi," Niyaz Khan had earlier said.

Since 2011, Khan has penned four books, The Ocean of Bliss, Confessions at Black Grave, Untold Secrets of My Ashram and Destiny in Drugs.