|
CRIME: THE D COMPANY
Where Is Dawood?
The government is not speaking without reason. The
underworld don is in Pakistan — Karachi to be precise. Now Chhota
Shakeel says so.
Post-Sholay it
was easy for harassed mothers to put their errant children to sleep. "Gabbar
Singh aayega" was reason enough to make them go under cover.
Two decades after Sholay perhaps mothers, particularly those affected
by the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai, have replaced the reel Gabbar with
the real Dawood. Only "Dawood aayega" may sound a trifle hollow.
Aayega, but from where? Agra or Australia? Kenya or Karachi?
 Where
is Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, India's most wanted fugitive? The subject of
an Interpol Red Corner Notice (A-135/4) for his involvement in the 1993
RDX blasts that left a trail of blood and gore in Mumbai. With over two
dozen passports of various countries-of which eight were made in Mumbai-the
man could be virtually anywhere. After his name figured in the Agra Summit,
speculations on the whereabouts of the 46-year-old criminal has traversed
half the world. Reports range from the insane to imaginative, logical
to plausible.
One theory suggests that the kingpin left Pakistan
for an undisclosed location in the Gulf. US intelligence sources also
confirm that D Company, as Dawood's gang is known in the underworld, has
shifted from Karachi. And, when asked by Union Home Minister L.K. Advani,
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf also flatly denied his presence in
his country. But highly placed sources in intelligence agencies hint that
he and his associates Yakub Memon and Chhota Shakeel have been kept in
a safe house in Pakistan. In fact, if Chhota Shakeel would have us believe,
the D Company is still in Karachi. "Hum to kahin hatey hi nahin (We
have not gone anywhere)," he says (see interview).
But technically speaking, perhaps Musharraf
is correct. For the man living in Karachi opposite Abdullah Shah Gazi
Dargh Clifton at Moin Place is not Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, but Shaikh Dawood
Hassan, supposedly a Pakistani national holding many passports from various
countries. Shaikh Dawood Hassan's Pakistani passport-Number G-866537,
July 30, 1991-was issued from Rawalpindi. Just prior to the summit, the
Pakistani national-with the help of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence
(ISI)-was slipped into a PIA aircraft and secreted away to Singapore.
A day later, another aircraft flew him to Dubai.
Dawood Hassan is none other than Dawood Kaskar.
And the game plan is all too familiar, reminiscent of the Memon family's
undercover flight to Bangkok after the 1993 blasts. Hassan or Kaskar,
Dawood went back home in Karachi last week. Speaking in Parliament last
week, Advani also said the government's information was Dawood was away
for a few days, "but he is back there, perhaps".
There is more than one reason to believe the
don is back in Karachi. Singapore and the UAE have extradition treaties
with India. In fact, Singapore had handed over Babloo Srivastava, who
was caught while in transit in 1995, to India on a platter. And as far
as the UAE is concerned, Dawood himself refrained from attending the engagement
and wedding of his niece last December and on May 5, 2001 as India had
already sent Dubai authorities information about the clan's probable visit
and an arrest request. Memon and Chhota Shakeel though, made a quick visit.
There is even talk that the D Company moved
to Nepal-lock, stock and CEO. Or to Thailand, Malaysia or Australia because
of its strong network and business interests in these countries. But last
year's failed attempt to kill rival gangster Chhota Rajan in his Bangkok
residence by a team of eight of Dawood's sharp shooters, and his escape
from under the Thai Police's nose, have made these countries more cautious.
India has signed extradition treaties with 15 countries, and with eight
other countries it has an arrangement to swap criminals. But it is not
an easy task verifying identity since these men hold many passports. "Extradition
also depends on the political will of the countries concerned," says
a senior police official in the Mumbai crime branch.
The good news is the chor-police game now has
Thailand, the US and China homing in on the man referred to as "The
Fourth Letter of the Alphabet". During the past year, the Thai Police
with the help of the CIA busted two of his counterfeit currency rackets
in Bangkok. The US is zeroing in on his role in supplying arms to Muslim
fundamentalists, including Osama bin Laden. The latest irritant is the
failed joint attempt to blow up the US Embassy in Delhi. And there is
news that Dawood in his enthusiasm in cutting side deals has bungled on
a clandestine arms contract with Chinese agencies. The latter did not
hesitate to bring the incident to the notice of the Pakistani military
authorities. This and mounting international pressure, it is believed,
has decreased Dawood's "usefulness" to his hosts. Now the story
might just take an interesting twist.
Some unconfirmed intelligence reports-which
India Today came across in Thailand and Malaysia during Dawood's failed
attempt to murder Chhota Rajan-hinted that Dawood had become a liability
even for ISI. They went on to say he may even be handed over to India
by the end of this year as a "goodwill gesture". When cross-checked
with sources in the Indian agencies, the information was neither confirmed
nor denied.
That Advani would not speak to Musharraf without
proof is clear. Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee also raised the issue. Advani
based his assessment on a 150-page secret report on the D Company. Besides,
photographs of Dawood attending the wedding of the daughter of his friend
Taufique Jaliawala-the ISI operative who helped him seek shelter in Pakistan
after the blasts-were already with intelligence agencies.
Musharraf's denial "must be borne in mind
when we carry on further talks with them", said Advani in the Rajya
Sabha. For Musharraf, to even admit that Dawood is in Pakistan, forget
handing him over, may be impossible. Till, of course, there is a sea change
in diplomatic relations.
—With Sayantan Chakravarty
|
METRO TODAY
Web
Exclusives
