New Delhi: In what could be a massive crackdown on D-Company, gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s aide Farooq Takla, wanted in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, has been arrested.
He has been deported from Dubai. His Air India flight AI 996 landed in Mumbai on Thursday morning. Farooq Takla has been taken to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) office in Mumbai for questioning.
He will be produced before Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) court in Mumbai later.
Reportedly, India and UAE have an extradition treaty which may have helped in nabbing Takla.
UAE has cooperated in the extradition of other terrorists in the past as well, sources say.
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Farooq Takla’s arrest is yet another example of growing counter-terrorism cooperation with the UAE.
As per sources, Takla’s deportation process began 6 months ago.
Takla faces criminal conspiracy, murder, attempt to murder, voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means and several other charges, according to data on the Interpol website.
Takla had fled from India soon after the 1993 blasts. Interpol had issued a red corner notice against him in 1995.
Takla, who is a gangster of the D-company, is suspected to be one of the persons to have planted the bombs during the 1993 Mumbai blasts.
Takla has been deported after an operation by an external intelligence agency in cooperation with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities.
This development comes two days after it was learnt that Dawood Ibrahim is willing to return to India. Dawood’s brother Iqbal Kaskar’s lawyer had said, “He is prepared to come down to Mumbai and if they still have some case against him, he is prepared to face the charges but he must be kept only in Arthur Road jail.”
Iqbal Kaskar, the brother of fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim, was arrested by the crime branch of the Thane Police in September 2017 in connection with an investigation into an extortion case.
A special TADA court in June 2017 had convicted six persons including mastermind Mustafa Dossa and extradited gangster Abu Salem in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, 24 years after the attacks left 257 people dead. Dossa died of a heart attack on June 28, 2017.
The dastardly attacks had also left 713 seriously injured and destroyed properties worth Rs 27 crore.