- Started out in the early nineties as a small-time ladies tailor in the Koldongri area of Andheri.
- Hobnobbed with neo-bhais of Mumbai, including Aziz Tingu of Mahim.
- Had not met Anis Ibrahim, but did odd jobs for him and tasted power for the first time.
- Shifted shop to posh Arasa Shopping Centre at Andheri and began baithaks there.
- Took charge of the western suburbs, while Qayyum was active in Mahim.
- Delivered gun to filmstar Sanjay Dutt on Aniss instructions.
- Soon after Mumbai bomb blasts, Salem went into hiding and stayed in a bordello in Manek Moti Society, Andheri.
- Escaped to Dubai in April 1993, met Anis for the first time.
- Meeting with Dawood soon after left him awestruck. Did his best to imitate him.
- Dawood dabbled in real estate and owned property in Mumbai. So after opening his office in Dubai in 1994, Salem started making extortion calls to builders.
- Salems initial two victims were big-time builders: Pradeep Jain of Juhu and Om Prakash Kukreja of Chembur, in 1994 and 1995 respectively.
- Salem was the first ganglord to use a policeman, Rajesh Igwe of Local Arms, as his shooter in a killing. Igwe and Salim Haddi killed Kukreja.
- Like Dawood and Anis, Salem began chasing filmmakers like Subhash Ghai, Rajiv Rai and Suneel Darshan.
- Ordered the killing of music magnate Gulshan Kumar in August 1997. With this killing, Salem succeeded in terrorising film folks.
- Salem was soon detained by Dubai police and remained in custody for 101 days before being released due to Aniss intervention.
- His imitation of Dawood was complete when he married a starlet Monica Bedi like his boss who had married a heroine earlier.
- Salem wanted to grow bigger than Dawood. But the don never approves of ambitious acolytes. He decided to dump Salem and banished him from the safe havens of Karachi, where the entire Bhaidom was relocated from Dubai.
- Salem was on the run and kept shifting base. He met his nemesis in a country which he had decided to make his base because it had no extradition treaty with India.
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