Author: Rediff Newsdesk
Publication: Rediff on Net
Date: February 20, 2003
URL: http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/feb/19mum.htm
In a major setback to gangster Dawood
Ibrahim, Dubai authorities on Wednesday night deported to Mumbai his younger
brother Iqbal Sheikh Kaskar and a close aide Ejaz Pathan.
"The Mumbai police will take custody
of the two," Joint Police Commissioner Sridhar Wagal said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation
questioned them soon after their arrival by an Air-India plane.
The duo will be produced in a court
on Thursday.
Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal
said the two gangsters
constituted a "very big catch"
for the Mumbai police. Pathan, he said, is one of the prime accused in
the 1992-93 Bombay bomb blasts, while Kaskar has at least eight to 10 cases
of murder, attempt to murder, and extortion against him.
Bhujbal said this success had not
been achieved in a day, nor was it exclusively the achievement of any one
government or police force. The central and state governments and police
forces had worked jointly for a very long time to achieve this. "We had
sent our teams to Dubai and other Gulf countries," Bhujbal, who is also
Maharashtra's home minister, told rediff.com
"I had also been to these countries
where I had met their rulers."
Bhujbal said the deportation of
the two gangsters would be a big blow to Dawood, but cautioned against
underestimating him or his gang. "These are not the only people," he said.
"There are several others. We have given at least 25-30 names to the police
forces of the Gulf states."
Bhujbal said the Gulf sheikhdoms
had become far more cooperative now and that was why the Mumbai police
had been able to get their hands on these two gangsters. "They have also
understood the problems of harbouring these people," he said, in an obvious
reference to the recent shootout in a Dubai club in which Sharad Shetty
alias Bada Idli was killed by members of the Chhota Rajan gang. "Right
now," he added, "no one wants to be associated with terrorists."
Bhujbal also clarified that Mohammed
Dossa, another of the prime accused in the 1992-93 bomb blasts, is not
being brought back at this juncture. He refused to speculate when Dossa
would be deported from Dubai, pointing out that the local police has been
given several more names for action.
