By IANS
New Delhi : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Wednesday shot off a letter to its Pakistani counterpart to confirm media reports about mobboss Dawood Ibrahim and his associates being detained by its Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI).
“We have written a letter to Pakistan’s Federal Investigating Agency (FIA) to verify if reports about the detention of Dawood and his associates in Pakistan are true,” a senior CBI official told IANS.
“Let’s see how they respond. We have been having interactions with the FIA after the peace process began some years back.”
According to these media reports, the ISI had detained Dawood, named by the US State Department as a “specially designated global terrorist” for his alleged links with the Al Qaeda, along with his lieutenant Chhota Shakeel and the Mumbai terror bombings’ alleged mastermind Tiger Memon.
However, both the Pakistani authorities and the Indian intelligence establishment have denied these reports.
The reports went on to say that the trio was rounded up last week from their hideout near the Pakistan-Afghan border and taken to a safe house on the outskirts of Quetta.
Another published report said that India’s most wanted fugitive was shot in his left leg in a scuffle between him and his fellow gamblers.
Just last week, US authorities backed India’s long-standing view that Dawood was indeed in Pakistan after the FBI and US Drug Enforcement Agency managed to procure evidence that proved the Indian’s role as an Al Qaeda associate and his links with an international drug syndicate.
Pakistan has consistently denied the presence of Dawood and his associates in its territory.