Doval part of covert op to kill Dawood in 2005: Shocking revelations by BJP MP put Modi government in fix

“Pakistan kabhi nahi maanega ki Dawood unke desh mein chhupa hai. Handover toh door, shameless denial hoga vo… doosra koi upaay sochna hoga (Pakistan will never agree to the fact that Dawood is sitting in their country. Forget handing him over, they will shamlessly deny it. We have to think of an another way of getting him back.)” Former Home Secretary RK Singh, during an interview with India Today on Monday, said that India can only bring back the man who has been on top of its most wanted list through a covert operation. Singh added that “other groups” can be funded and trained to undertake an operation. Asked what was stopping Indian agencies from undertaking such an operation, Singh said, “political determination and decision”. The former home secretary and current BJP MP, Singh revealed that during Vajpayee’s rule there was a plan to nab Dawood but it was foiled due to the mistake of a few corrupt police officials in Mumbai. Singh said that he does not have any evidence to prove it but “a group was being trained to target Dawood but he had people in Mumbai police on his ‘pay roll’ who were alerted. The Mumbai police came saying there is a warrant against them. But I cannot say it is confirmed. I have just heard… I don’t have evidence.” [caption id=“attachment_2407136” align=“alignleft” width=“380” class=" “]  Former home secretary RK Singh. Image courtesy: PIB[/caption] “A lot of people were trained for the operation. A few officials of the Mumbai police were on Dawood’s payroll and they were informed that a covert operation was being hatched to nab Dawood. That is how the cops reached the location suddenly with warrants, following which the plan was aborted. Ajit Doval was involved in the operation. But this is not confirmed,” Singh was quoted as saying in the  India Today report. In fact, the incident alluded to by Singh, was the source of a media storm back in 2005 when it occurred. Current National Security Adviser Doval had just retired as the director of the Intelligence Bureau in 2005, the same year Dawood’s daughter Mahrukh was to marry Pakistani cricketer Javed Miandad’s son Junaid. The intelligence agencies, who were emboldened by the specific details of Dawood’s whereabouts, decided to use the opportunity to eliminate the underworld don, who had been designated by the United Nations as a globally wanted terrorist. According to this report in The Sunday Guardian, it was around the same time that Deputy Commissioner of Police of the Mumbai Crime Branch Dhananjay Kamlakar was sent to Delhi with explicit instructions to arrest the members of the Chhota Rajan gang who had infiltrated India to eliminate a politician and  a top businessman. Rajan had split from Dawood after the Bombay blasts of 1993, and was looking for a chance to avenge the attack on him in Bangkok in 2000. And so, he deputed two of his trusted men Vicky Malhotra and Farid Tanasha. The government wanted complete deniability in case the plan went awry and so a decision was taken to engage members of the Chhota Rajan gang instead of sending commandos. Doval was appointed in charge of this operation, this India Today report noted. “One afternoon when Doval was doing a final briefing of the Rajan gang members, Kamlakar’s team dashed into the hotel. At that time the three of them were reportedly poring over the blueprint of the Grand Hyatt hotel to determine the best position to instal the sharpshooters,” it said. According to a WikiLeaks cable dated 8 August 2005, “In early July a group of Mumbai policemen travelled to Delhi to stake out Vicky Malhotra, an underworld figure who had been charged with numerous crimes, including murder, extortion and arms smuggling. On 11 July 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).” According to the leaked cable, Doval was allowed to go free, whereas Malhotra and two of his associates, who were picked up later, were taken to Mumbai where they faced criminal charges. Doval and the officials from the Union Home Ministry declined to comment on the incident. The bungled operation to eliminate Dawood Ibrahim in Dubai has been part of intelligence agency folklore for over a decade now, but no high ranking officer of the government had hitherto admitted to the existence of an assassination bid to eliminate the underworld don. As the clamour around bringing Dawood back from Pakistan has become louder again within media and political cirlces, these revelations by a current BJP MP could create further problems for the Narendra Modi government.