How Ajit Dovals (National Security Advisor under Narendra Modi) attempt to catch Dawood was stopped by Mumbai police: Wkileaks Cable --------------------------------- It is widely acknowledged that Dawood Ibrahim and his network continue to be a dominant force in the citys underworld. In the weeks prior to the Dubai reception, the Indian police and intelligence services reportedly monitored the movements and tapped the phones of many of Ibrahims supposed contacts in the Indian underworld and in the business and entertainment sectors. The authorities hoped that the monitoring would reveal information about the wedding planning or even Ibrahims whereabouts. None of the better-known names went to Dubai, however, possibly out of fear of being too closely identified with Ibrahim in public. Two of Ibrahims associates were also arrested in Mumbai after a local businessman told the police that they had tried to extort money from him to finance the Dubai reception. Murky Arrest in Delhi: Is There an Ibrahim connection? ¶8. (SBU) The media quickly linked the murky arrest of several alleged underworld figures in New Delhi on July 11 to Ibrahim and the wedding. Subsequently, however, it became unclear how, if at all, the arrests were tied to Ibrahim. In early July a group of Mumbai policemen traveled to Delhi to stake out Vicky Malhotra, an underworld figure who had been charged with numerous crimes, including murder, extortion and arms smuggling. On July 11 the Mumbai police arrested Malhotra while he was driving through central Delhi. Accompanying Malhotra was Ajit Kumar Doval, former head of the Indian Intelligence Bureau (IB). Doval was allowed to go free, whereas Malhotra and two associates who were picked up later were taken to Mumbai where they now face criminal charges. Doval himself as well as GOI officials from the Home Ministry later declined to comment about the incident. ¶9. (SBU) Thereafter the Indian media was rife with speculation about why the former head of Indias premier intelligence service (IS) was caught with a known underworld figure. As is often the case on media coverage of the underworld, Ibrahim was quickly assumed to have had a hand in the incident. Malhotra is the right hand man of gangster Chhota Rajan, a fierce rival of Ibrahim. Rajan was once Ibrahims lieutenant, but broke up with Ibrahim after the 1993 Mumbai bombings. The two have reportedly been fierce rivals since. Communal tensions between Ibrahim, a Muslim, and Rajan, a Hindu, were also believed to have contributed to the breakup. Rajan reportedly objected to the bomb attacks, which were part of a chain of violent retributions surrounding right-wing Hindus destruction of the Babri Masjid mosque in 1992. Rajan was thought to be living somewhere in Southeast Asia, but recent press reports claim that is now hiding in Europe. He and Malhotra are believed to have been responsible for the targeted killing of a number of Ibrahims associates. ¶10. (C) The media originally speculated that the IB wanted to use Malhotra to target and kill Ibrahim if he traveled to Dubai to attend the reception. According to this theory, Doval acted as the conduit between the IB and Malhotra. The Mumbai police were either unaware that the IB was collaborating with Rajan, and surprised the IB operation with its own sting, or, plausibly, some even speculated that Ibrahim was aware of the IB/Rajan plot against him and had tipped off the Mumbai police, many of whom work directly or indirectly for him. ¶11. (SBU) The GOI and the Mumbai police have not commented on the incident. The arrests and the presence of former IB chief Doval are established facts. Since the authorities are not publicly talking, everything else about the incident is speculation of media outlets, which have given much contradictory information in their reporting as the story unfolded. For example, several newspapers originally reported that the Delhi police were unaware of the Mumbai police presence in their district. Later, however, the same papers wrote that the Delhi and Mumbai police had in fact worked together to apprehend Malhotra. Continued Mumbai Police Links With Ibrahim -------------- ¶12. (SBU) In the days following the arrest Mumbai Police Commissioner A.N. Roy fired senior police inspector Aslam Momin. Roy said wiretapping had revealed that Momin had links with Ibrahim and Ibrahims two brothers. The media immediately speculated that Ibrahim had used Momin to tip off the Mumbai police to arrest gangster Malhotra in Delhi, thus foiling the IS/Malhotra plot against him, Ibrahim. One paper quoted unnamed IS officials as saying the service was irate that the Delhi incident became public. Suspecting that Momin may have been the leak, the IS gave the Mumbai police evidence documenting Momins underworld connections. Police officials did not comment on the rumors. (Note: Momin was a so-called encounter specialist, a euphemism for a police hit man who carries out extra-judicial killings of highly sought after underworld figures. There is no legal basis for such killings, which are executed under the guise of a shootout where the involved police officers claim they act in self-defense. The publicly acknowledged link between a police hit man and Ibrahim highlighted the well-known interaction between police and the underworld. Human rights groups have long argued that police hit men often have close ties with the underworld figures they are supposed to target. The hit men spare their intended victims in return for bribes, it is argued, or they take bribes from one gang to knock off rivals from another gang. Read Sukethu Mehtas book Maximum City for more details on encounters, Dawood, the police, and the Mumbai underworld. ¶13. (C) If the Mumbai police know the whereabouts of Ibrahim, they are not talking. Although most of the intense media interest in Ibrahim is speculation, Ibrahim continues to cast a broad and sinister web of influence in India. It is also an established fact that his daughter was the focus of an upscale wedding reception in Dubai on July 23 at a hotel carrying a famous American brand name. We find the hotels judgment lacking, and its corporate parent ought to be asking some questions of its franchise in Dubai. -------------------------- Note: Above note is from wikileaks cable, which can be found here, https://t.co/G677XvjZzO
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 10:14:07 +0000
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