For the first time since the fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim left the country, he has gone off the radar of intelligence agencies, highly placed sources told The Hindu . Intelligence sources say his arch rival, gangster Chhota Rajan, is also untraceable.
The development is of potential embarrassment to the BJP government which promised to bring Dawood to book.
Intelligence agencies have written to the Maharashtra police seeking assistance as both the dons have large networks in Mumbai and its neighbouring towns.
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According to a senior police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the last information that the agencies have on Dawood is that he had left Pakistan a month ago.
“In the past we used to know when he undertook a Haj or left the country to visit Dubai but for the last one month we have no information about his whereabouts,” the source disclosed.
What is worrying is that the agencies do not even know the possible reason behind the don shifting from his alleged safe haven in Karachi.
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“We have no information as to whether he has been moved out by the ISI or he has left of his own accord. All we know for sure is that he is not in Pakistan,” he said.
The don was believed to be holed up at a palatial bungalow in Karachi’s Tony Clifton Road locality along with his brother Anees Ibrahim and most trusted aide Chota Shakeel ever since he fled the country in the late 1980s.
Accused of orchestrating the 1993 Bombay bomb blasts, Dawood is also wanted in numerous cases of murder, extortion and threats. In 2011, the U.S. declared Dawood the second most wanted terrorist in the world after Osama bin Laden who was killed in a military operation by the U.S.
“Dawood had even given a miss to the wedding of his lieutenant Shakeel’s daughter that was held in Karachi on September 19,” added the source.
Chhota Rajan, who is believed to have been shuttling between Bangkok and Singapore, has also gone off the radar.
The last that the intelligence agencies know about him is that his health has deteriorated and the don has even gone completely bald. “As far as Rajan is concerned, we only know that his kidney problem has worsened further,” he added.
The Mumbai police are now visiting Nagpada and Chembur in Mumbai to get some leads. While Nagpada in South Mumbai houses Dawood’s ancestral home, Chembur in Central Mumbai is where Rajan was born.