10 May,2011 06:10 AM IST | | J Dey
Underworld, police sources say Abbottabad operation has come as a setback for Indian gangsters trying to kill the country's most wanted man as the ISI has doubled its measures to protect him at his palatial mansion in Karachi
The killing of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and the subsequent beefing up of security around Dawood Ibrahim's Karachi home has come as a setback for several underworld gangs in the city who have been trying to eliminate India's most wanted man. A senior police officer told MiD DAY that Laden's killing has put Pakistani's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) on high alert to ward off any attacks on Dawood. They are running a background check on all Indians in Pakistan who could have any possible links with Mumbai's underworld.
The Pakistani intelligence agency reportedly fears that Dawood's killing in Karachi would expose its consistently maintained stand that he is not in Pakistan. Mumbai's underworld gangs have, however, been prodded on by their internecine rivalry with the D-Gang to develop local contacts in Karachi to bump off its kingpin.
Security net
Information gleaned from their sources and from the police in Mumbai suggests that the ISI has doubled its surveillance around Dawood's palatial home in the upmarket Clifton area after the US operation to kill Osama at Abbottabad.
A phalanx of senior ISI officials are reportedly protecting Dawood and his clutch of gangsters. Pakistani army specialists have converted Dawood's residence into a fortress equipped with highly sensitive electronic devices like 'cutters', which are used to neutralise surveillance systems and jammers.
The road leading to Dawood's Clifton residence in Karachi has been restricted only to local residents, most
of whom are military personnel. All phone calls in and out of the palatial bungalow are monitored by the ISI, police sources said.
"At least 40 armed guards in Pathani outfits have thrown a cordon around Dawood and his henchmen. Only a suicide squad can kill the terrorist," said an intelligence source. The ISI also has a very strong base in Kathmandu in Nepal, which is a possible route for members of Mumbai's underworld to enter Pakistan. They have initiated stringent checks on visas issued to Pakistan to ward off the threat from there.
Covert ops
As many as seven attempts have been made by Indian gangsters to trace and bump off Dawood. It all started with members of the Chhota Rajan gang, allegedly aided by Indian agencies, eliminating Nepalese MLA Mirza Dilshad Baig in 1998. Rajan's men had entered Pakistan on at least seven occasions to try and kill Dawood. They had the support of local contacts like Ejaz Pathan. Similar attempts have led to the deaths of two of Dawood's suspected henchmen in Karachi in the past two months.
Underworld members are also systematically eliminating Dawood's henchmen in neighbouring countries like Nepal, Thailand and Malaysia. Breakaway gangster Santosh Shetty's right-hand-man Vijay Shetty alias Viju had told MiD DAY that he had bumped Dawood's right-hand-man Zamen Shah in Kathmandu in February 2010.
Shah was running money laundering and counterfeit currency syndicates and had been linked to the ISI fake currency syndicate headed by Riyaz Batki. A Research & Analysis Wing official, earlier posted in Kathmandu, said Shah was under the scanner of the Indian intelligence for nearly five years.
He was also running a local newspaper and television channel in Nepal Gangsters from Mumbai also killed Parvez Tunda alias Baig in December 2009 and bumped off Chhota Shakeel's associate Kamal Singh alias Nepali in 2006.Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Himanshu Roy refused to comment on the issue.
