ISI asks Dawood to strike Delhi
Don, under pressure from Pak, asks Pune- based illegal arms dealer to plan blasts
Underworld don and the most- wanted in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts Dawood Ibrahim is under pressure from his handlers in the Inter Services Intelligence ( ISI), Pakistan’s spy agency, to enact blasts — this time in the national capital.
Based on technical intelligence and human intelligence, a May 30 tip- off to the security agencies and accessed by this newspaper says that a Pune- based illegal arms dealer, who is also a Dawood aide, is doing the planning for the blasts. The targets in Delhi include the New Delhi Railway Station, Metro stations, IGI Airport and the state Legislative Assembly, a report based on the information says.
The tip- off was first received by the capital’s northwest district police, which passed it on to the state intelligence bureau and subsequently to the Multi- Agency Centre ( MAC), a common apex platform under the Union home ministry set up for intelligence informationsharing and coordination among various agencies.
Thus far, Dawood’s focal area of operation had always been Mumbai, the country’s commercial capital, and the shift to the national capital indicates, indirectly, the ISI’s keenness to target Delhi.
A strike in Delhi will also underscore Dawood’s capacity which in increasingly coming into question after being hounded relentlessly by the Indian security establishment and besides signalling his relevance.
According to intelligence sources, the ISI has already shifted Dawood from his posh Clifton Road locality in Karachi to a secure location in the lawless stretch of the Pakistan- Afghanistan border. There have also been recent reports that the don may be suffering from gangrene and may have to amputate his legs.
Of late, the gangster has been in the news after reports of alleged telephonic contact between him and former Maharashtra revenue minister Eknath Khadse, who put in his papers on Saturday after heat on him grew because of the alleged phone calls and his involvement in a shady multicrore land deal.
The Bombay high court will hear the matter on June 14.