New Delhi, October 26
Unfazed by Pakistan’s denial about the presence of the underworld don and now a declared “global terrorist” Dawood Ibrahim in its territory, India is collecting further evidence against him before renewing its request to the Interpol for re-issuing of a red corner-notice for him.
After reports emanating from Karachi suggested that the dreaded underworld don, who is also accused of serial blasts in Mumbai, owned hotels in Pakistan, India started collecting fresh evidence against Dawood to be handed over to Interpol, a report said.
India was seeking to locate Dawood and other members of his family and gang so that the details could be handed to the global agency to keep a watch for them. Dawood’s arrest and repatriation remained on top of India’s agenda despite the underworld don evading arrest by seeking shelter in various countries where he has made investments.
Reports here said that the fresh request for his arrest would be routed through the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Indian wing of Interpol. The request would be made only after the government had collected sufficient information and evidence against him.
The intelligence agencies here had renewed their efforts to collect more information about Dawood and his gang members following the recent statement of a Pakistani minister that the Karachi hotel destroyed in the bomb blast on July 12 was owned by Dawood and brothers.
Although Pakistan Government had recently again denied that Dawood was in its territory but the statement by one of its minister’s had only confirmed India’s assertion that he had been given shelter by successive governments in Islamabad.
An Interpol red-corner notice was already pending against Dawood and his relatives who had fled India after the 1993 serial Mumbai bomb blasts, which claimed hundreds of lives and injured hundreds others.
Incidentally, the issue of Dawood’s arrest was also discussed during the recent Interpol conference on fugitives where the Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble was also present.
Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani had later discussed the matter with Mr Noble who assured him that he would personally take up the matter with Pakistan during his visit to Islamabad in January next year. India was insisting that Dawood and his gang members had been hiding in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province.
The recent declaration of Dawood as a global terrorist by the USA had also come as a shot in arm for India and that had also prompted New Delhi to think again about sending a request to the Interpol for issuance of a red-corner alert notice.
