DAWOOD AIDE TAKLA DEPORTED TO INDIA

MUMBAI: Mohammed Farooq, an alleged aide of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and one of the key people behind the 1993 Mumbai bombings, was arrested on Thursday after being deported from the United Arab Emirates.

Farooq, better known as Farooq Takla, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation at the Delhi airport early morning when he arrived from Dubai. He was taken to Mumbai where a special court remanded him to investigators’ custody till March 19.

According to CBI, Takla and his brother Mohmad Ahmad Mansoor provided logistical support for the attacks in Mumbai (then Bombay) in 1993 that killed 257 people. He was since put on an Interpol red corner list and an extradition request was made to UAE in August, 2017.

In all, 12 bombs exploded in Mumbai during the attack with targets being the Bombay Stock Exchange, three five-star hotels, the Air-India building, near the Shiv Sena headquarters at Dadar, the regional passport office, and Zaveri Bazaar. Grenades were also thrown at the city’s international airport and at a fishermen’s colony. It is alleged that Dawood planned and executed the bombings in retaliation for the Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya in December 1992.

In the aftermath of the Mumbai bombings, investigators had filed charges against 129 people, of which 100 were convicted. One of the key accused, Yakub Memon, had escaped the country to Dubai and then Pakistan with his family.