After Jundal, Tunda and Bhatkal, is Dawood Ibrahim next?

Is India’s most wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim next on the list to be arrested after three big arrests (or extradition) made by the Indian security agencies in the recent months?

In June, Lashkar-e-Taiba operative and a 26/11 Mumbai terror attack handler Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, was arrested from New Delhi’s IGI airport. There is still no clarity on how he came to India.

In August, according to the claims by the Indian agencies, Syed Abdul Karim alias Tunda (Lashkar-e-Taiba bomb maker and one of India’s most wanted terrorist) and Yasin Bhatkal alias Ahmed Siddibappa (co-founder of Indian Mujahideen) were arrested from Indo-Nepal border.

But newspapers reports in Nepal have suggested that both of them were arrested there and were handed over to Indian agencies as there is no extradition treaty between the two countries. Also, apart from some vague reports about the questioning of these three terrorists, there is no news of any important arrests being made or terror networks smashed based on the inputs given by them.

Coming back to Dawood, intelligence sources have confirmed to Canary Trap that negotiations to bring the underworld don are at an advanced stage but two conditions put forth by Dawood have caused a delay in finalizing the deal.

The Deal: 

According to the sources, the contentious conditions which the Indian side is not comfortable with are:

  • Dawood wants that all his businesses after his arrest should be allowed to run as it is without any disruption.
  • Dawood is ready to face jail for all the charges except the ones pertaining to terrorism (i.e. Mumbai blasts, 26/11 attacks) as according to him there is no direct evidence that links him to these terror acts.

It needs to be seen if the Indian agencies accept his conditions or whether he withdraws them.

Why Now:

Dawood’s presence in Pakistan is getting too hot for the host country to handle. There is a constant threat to his life because of his business interests. Also, the Pakistani spy agency wants a bigger pie from his business interests which the gangster doesn’t want to give. The safer option for him then is to head back to India if his conditions (stated above) are met.

Moreover, it suits the Indian government to bring back Dawood just before 2014 polls and send a message to the electorate that they are not soft on terror.

Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde’s recent statement that he is hopeful that Dawood too would be brought back points towards this. According to a newspaper report, Shinde had also said that “India has proposed joint actions with the US to arrest the fugitive gangster”.

Some news channels curiously debated Dawood’s fate immediately after the news of Yasin Bhatkal’s arrest started coming in. Was an advisory sent to these channels to discuss the issue?

While it is a good thing that Dawood might be brought back to India so that he can be tried for all the crimes committed by him, it remains to be seen whether his two contentious conditions (stated above) are met or not.

4 responses to “After Jundal, Tunda and Bhatkal, is Dawood Ibrahim next?”

  1. RSN Singh Avatar
    RSN Singh

    I was invited on many channels the day Yaseen Bhatkal was ‘received’ at the Indo-Nepal border. Most channels suddenly came up with this story about the possibility of Dawood being apprehended. It was quite bizarre. On prodding the truth emerged that indeed there was a government advisory to mainstream channels to carry this story. While fixed-matches in cricket lines the pockets of few, such fixed-matches related to security are suicidal for the country.

  2. Naseem Ahmed Avatar
    Naseem Ahmed

    It was very apparent on the day of Bhatkal’s arrest that our so-called ‘free media’ was hardly ‘free’. The anchors in all channels shout as if they are paragon of truth and are the most fearless and independent people in the world. In actuality they are nothing but half-educated survivors, who do not have the courage to even show the size of the crowd in Rahul Gandhi’s rallies. Only the dumb and the half-educated watch news channels in India.

  3. Jitender Kalra Avatar
    Jitender Kalra

    To the common man, now it has become clear that the apprehending of Jundal, Tunda and Bhatkal were nothing but fixed-matches. If it was genuine then the entire terrorist network in India would be busted. The deal with Dawood also seems to be real because if he opens his mouth many political heads would roll especially in Maharastra.

  4. Amit Katkar Avatar
    Amit Katkar

    Sometime back, there was a news that the Pak ISI and Dawood are going to launch a TV channel in Pakistan. Now, it is learnt that Dawood is planning to launch two channels in India as well after his deal with the Indian government for his ‘rehabilitation’ in India.