Dawood Ibrahim had contacts with high-ranking Indian politicians, internal involvement made 26/11 possible: Report

According to a report in the Sunday Guardian, India's most wanted terrorist, Dawood Ibrahim, was given a new identity in 2003 by the ISI. This was done to reduce the chances of detection and to enable him to travel to multiple countries across the globe.

Further, it claims that 26/11 became possible because of Indian involvement and that high ranking politicians from both UPA and NDA had contacts with Dawood.

The Sunday Indian report claims that Dawood's identity was changed once it became clear that the US government, under repeated requests from the AB Vajpayee government, would declare Dawood a 'Specially Designated International Terrorist'.

The US declared Dawood an international terrorist in October 2003, several months after the change in his identity. According to Sunday Guardian's US sources, "Such a step had no effect on Dawood's international operations, both business and terror-related", in view of the fact that he was thereby enabled to travel safely to multiple locations through use of the documents prepared for him by the ISI.

The Pakistan authorities allegedly made Dawood aware in advance that he was to be designated an international terrorist, and by the change in his identity, enabled his travel to countries like South Africa, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Portugal and Dubai.

The Sunday Guardian further claims that Dawood had transferred properties which were in his name to nominees and benamis in 2002 itself, so that nothing of any value was seized anywhere in the world, including in India, where he has substantial assets, especially in Mumbai and Hyderabad. Terrorism, hawala and narcotics are said to be some of Dawood's prime businesses. 

Furthermore, Dawood transferred assets and sold off many of his international businesses during 2006-2011, says the report, US based sources claimed to Sunday Guardian.

The sources allege that neither Vajpayee nor Manmohan Singh tried any effective counter measures to overcome Dawood's actions. But when Narendra Modi as PM visited the USA, NSA Ajit Doval 'stayed two extra days in Washington mainly to work out ways of capturing or otherwise incapacitating Dawood'.

The new legal identity of Dawood, accused in the 1993 Mumbai blasts, still poses a challenge to Indian authorities. He has maintained a low profile, alleges the report, but continued to dabble in Bollywood and match fixing in cricket.

But there is an even more shocking claim. The sources state that the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks would not have succeeded if Dawood did not have longstanding contacts within the Mumbai Police, and within the political network both in Maharashtra and the country. The report alleges that many high ranking politicians were afraid of being exposed if the domestic angle to 26/11 was seriously probed - so it never was. "It was as though the investigators were told not to believe that there was a network in India, which provided information to ISI proxies about the interior layout and work schedules of the Taj Mahal and Oberoi Trident hotels," say the sources to Sunday Guardian.

The report also states that at least two employees of the Taj hotel and one of the Trident provided information to the Pakistani handlers. But none of the three "were questioned by the police and in fact remained in service after the blasts". But the Mumbai Police staunchly deny claims of Indian involvement.

However, the don is "still very much in charge of the operations of the companies he owns", as well as his traditional business of extracting money from businesspersons in India, besides dealings in real estate, mainly in Maharashtra, his home state "where he knows several officials and politicians, even meeting in the past with them in locations where his actual identity is safe from detection", says the report.

The US sources further allege that "a director-general of police and five inspectors-general of police and DIGs have worked for Dawood in the past". But the coming of the Modi government has made such connections difficult.

More shockingly, the report claims that at least two senior NDA leaders and four UPA leaders were in contact with Dawood before 26/11, but all but one of the six dropped their association with him after the attacks. The last politician also stopped contact with him in 2011. In fact, Dawood in 2006 travelled on an international flight from the UAE to South Africa and the seat next to him was occupied by a senior politician who knew whom he was talking to throughout the journey, claim the US experts to Sunday Guardian.

The counter-terrorism experts say that Dawood's family is "almost totally unaware of the new identity of their internationally known relative as given in the travel documents", supplied to Dawood 12 years ago, and that these papers are used "only while travelling internationally and domestically and in financial transactions", so that the names and aliases of Dawood do not come up on any record, including those of banks and airlines.

Dawood however no longer uses the phone, claim the experts. They state that he has also restricted his movements within Pakistan since 2012. Lastly, the experts commend Ajit Doval for his efforts in bringing back Dawood to India, but say this is extremely difficult due to his new identity and the lack of cooperation on the Pakistani front.