While much has been written about Abu Salem and Mustafa Dossa, who were convicted on Friday in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case, officers who investigated the case said the bigger catch among Friday’s lot of convicts was Taher Merchant (alias Taher Taklya).
Merchant had no past criminal record, and so had managed to keep a low profile. But in reality, he was one of the central players in the conceptualisation, planning and coordination of the blasts.
Merchant was born in Dongri and grew up with Dawood. When Dawood fled to Dubai, operations of the ‘D gang’ were taken over by Shakeel Babumiyan Sheikh (alias Chhota Shakeel), and Merchant, nicknamed ‘Taklya’ for his bald head, headed logistics for all of the gang’s activities, the officers said.
A retired police officer, speaking on anonymity, said, “Immediately after Babri Masjid demolition in December 1992, a wave of fury spread through several Islamic nations, including the UAE. This crystallised in the form of ‘ tehreek-e-inteqaam ’ (movement for revenge) through a recruitment of volunteers for a revenge mission. Merchant — who was in Dubai at the time (having fled India along with Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar), became actively involved in it.”
According to sources, Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had always been on the lookout for recruits in West Asia with the ability and willingness to spread terror in India, and Merchant soon became associated with Taufiq Jaliawala, a known ISI agent who is one of the people who financed the blasts. Merchant and Jaliawala began scouting for volunteers for the tehreek together.
Another officer, who also asked not be named, said that during this period, Merchant came into contact with Tiger Memon, who regularly visited Dubai in connection with Dawood’s smuggling operations. Merchant found Memon a willing associate for the tehreek . In a meeting in Dubai between late December ’92 and early January ’93, Merchant promised all the financial and logistical help, while Memon agreed to take care of the execution.
‘Huge role’
“Merchant’s role in the blasts was huge,” said Rakesh Maria, who spearheaded the investigation into the case. “He was the one who coordinated between the ISI and the D gang, arranged for everything from explosives to weapons to money, and took care of training youth to participate in the blasts. In fact, the young men who went to Pakistan through Dubai stayed in flats owned by Merchant, and he was also present for motivational talks given to them.”
Merchant's expertise and committment to the cause can be seen from the scale of the operation.
In a span of just three months – from the meeting in Dubai to March in the same year – he coordinated the procurement of RDX and assault rifles from the ISI, its transport to India, taking recruits to Pakistan via Dubai, bringing them back after their training and dispersing money among them.
Memon got involved because he had a personal axe to grind – his office was burned in the riots following the Babri Masjid demolition– but very little of the money used in the operation was his. It was Merchant who sent money from the ISI through hawala channels and instructed Memon to distribute it among the recruits after they returned from their training.
