The Union government has ordered an inquiry into the goof-up in the preparation of the list of ‘50 most wanted' fugitives, submitted to Pakistan two months ago, as it included the name of a terror accused living in Thane, a Mumbai suburb.
Wazhul Kamar Khan is an accused in the 2003 Mulund train blast, which killed 11 persons. He was arrested but granted bail and was found living at Thane with his family. His name figured as Khan Wazhul Kamar at serial number 41. The embarrassment prompted the government to quickly order a probe, official sources said. The list was prepared in consultation with the Maharashtra police, the National Investigation Agency and the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram said in Agartala on Tuesday that a big issue should not be made out of one wrong name in the list.
ADVERTISEMENT
“The list was prepared months ago. Just one name... whether it is the same person or two persons of the same name, we have to see. Be that as it may, if you prepare a list of 50 people, one name, assuming that we are wrong in one name, 49 are right. I don't think we should make a big issue of it. It is possible there could be an error, or there could be two people with the same name. I will go back and check,” he was quoted as saying by news agencies.
Sources in the Union Home Ministry said the inquiry would cover different stages of the list preparation and pin-point the officials responsible for including the name of Wazhul Kamar Khan in it.
“It could have been a cut-and-paste job at some stage or even a confusion relating to a name. The probe will find out who is responsible for it,” the sources said.
ADVERTISEMENT
We take the blame, says G.K. Pillai
PTI reports:
Union Home Secretary G.K. Pillai late in the night said his Ministry accepted the blame for the goof-up. “There is no blame game. I don't think anybody is blaming the Mumbai police. Any blame, if there is, is of the Ministry of Home. I don't think the Mumbai police can be blamed at all. We will verify tomorrow after looking at the records,” he said.
“Never visited Pakistan”
Our Mumbai Bureau reports:
Wazhul Kamar Khan said he did not know why his name figured in the list. “I was born and brought up in Mumbai. I regularly present myself in the court according to the bail conditions,” he told The Hindu on Tuesday. “I have never visited Pakistan. None of our family members has.”