31 March,2009 09:31 AM IST | | J Dey
The Dawood Ibrahim gang suffered a major blow yesterday, when its key shooter Rashid Malbari was arrested near the town of Ullal in Karnataka by the Department of Criminal Intelligence Bureau (DCIB) sleuths led by officer Venkatesh Prasanna.
DCIB officials told MiD DAY that the Intelligence Bureau had tipped them about Malbari, who had been contracted by a man named Ismail to gun down a local politician identified as Isbu in Kasargod, Kerala. It was in a bungalow on the outskirts of Ullal, which is an hour's drive from Mangalore, that Malbari was finally arrested.
Isbu's hirelings allegedly made an unsuccessful attempt to kidnap Ismail's son last month. Malbari's arrested associates are Ibrahim Kapu, Saibu, Yasin and Sohail, all known to be Dawood gang members. Malbari, along with his close associate Munna Zingada, is believed to be responsible for over half a dozen killings in Mumbai, and figures in the Crime Banch's list of 10 most wanted gangsters.
| Who is Malbari? Rashid Malbari launched himself into the upper echelons of the Mumbai underworld in September 2000, when he opened fire on rival gangster Rajendra Nikalje alias Chhota Rajan in Bangkok, injuring him seriously. Four years later, Malbari killed Rajan's second-in-command Balu Dokre in Malaysia. Malbari is also believed to have been assigned the task of eliminating encounter specialists Vijay Salaskar and Daya Nayak after the crime branch turned its heat on the underworld. Rashid Malbari became active in Mumbai after Raja Gore, a frontline Chhota Rajan shooter, killed Malbari's elder brother Ismail outside Vikhroli Court in 2007. Shortly after, Malbari fled the country and began operating from Karachi and Bangkok after the Crime Branch began baying for his blood. |
