15 November,2010 06:57 AM IST | | J Dey
India's most wanted criminal managed to hoodwink intelligence agencies and attend the wedding of his niece, courtesy the ISI
While Dawood Ibrahim has managed to evade the grasp of Mumbai police for over two decades, Indian intelligence agencies have kept an eagle eye on the don's movements outside of the country.
On several occasions intelligence sleuths have come within a whisker of nabbing the dreaded fugitive, but each time the ISI has foiled their attempts.
Last week another golden opportunity was missed when Dawood Ibrahim coolly walked in to a 5-star hotel in Karachi and solemnized the wedding of his brother Anees Ibrahim's daughter Sabina to trusted aide Salim Chiplun's son Shoaib alias Sohail Dalvi.
According to intelligence sources, the fact that Dawood would be attending the wedding was kept under wraps till the last minute.
The ISI that has been guarding and monitoring the movements of Dawood did not want any untoward incident at the wedding.
A score of armed commandos with automatic weapons hovered around the don as he stepped out of his hideout.
Not just Dawood, even his second-in-command, Chhota Shakeel, was by his side at the wedding reception.
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Dawood (56), Anees (50) and Salim Dalvi (50) are wanted by the Indian government in connection with the '93 Mumbai serial blasts.
While India has initiated a red-corner alert for Dawood, the Pakistani government has, so far, denied his presence in the country.
The US, too, declared Dawood a global terrorist in 2003.
ISI's plan
Intelligence officials said that the ISI had a master plan that threw informers off guard ahead of the wedding.
The fact that Dawood would be attending the wedding was kept completely under wraps.
On the contrary informers were fed the lie that Dawood would not be attending at all.
The calculated lie almost worked, however Indian intelligence sources smelled a rat when several relatives of Dawood's family from Mumbai and his native place began sneaking out to Gulf countries.
By the time the sleuths gathered the final destination that the relatives were headed for, the date and venue of the wedding was finalised.
Even though intel officers rattled their khabris but none of the informers could come up with any information on the time that Dawood would be arriving or the vehicle that he would be escorted to the venue.
And that is how the ISI managed to successfully escort Dawood to the reception and sneak him out again.
"We were alerted after some of Dawood's distant relatives from Mumbai slipped out of the country
over the last few weeks.
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They were headed for Karachi, via Gulf countries," intelligence officials said on condition of anonymity. The guest list too had been carefully drawn out.
The don's appearance at the wedding, however, is being seen as a breach of security safeguards that the ISI has imposed upon the gangster.
Global terrorist
While India has initiated a red-corner alert for Dawood, the Pakistani government has, so far, denied his presence in the country.
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The US, too, declared Dawood a global terrorist in 2003. He is wanted for orchestrating the '93 serial blasts.
