The Supreme Court will hear on Monday the plea by 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts convict Yakub Memon’s plea challenging the death warrant issued against him and for the stay of his execution set for July 30.
“I have already assigned the bench. It will come by Monday,” said Chief Justice HL Dattu as senior counsel TR Andhyarujina mentioned the matter before the bench on Friday.
Update: The NLU Delhi death penalty litigation clinic has issued a statement:
The writ petition filed by Yakub Memon along with an Intervention Application filed by National Law University, Delhi through its Death Penalty Litigation Clinic will challenge the validity of the death warrant on the grounds that the protections available to death row prisoners during death warrant proceedings (as laid down by the Supreme Court in Shabnam v. Union of India in May 2015) were violated by the Government of Maharashtra.
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Trying to get further details...
Two interesting opinions worth a read - one by a retired SC Judge
indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/how-to-rectify-injustice-to-yakub-sc-should-take-suo-motu-notice-of-raman-piece/
www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/who-killed-yakub-memon-115072401232_1.html#.VbSGYMIvgx8.twitter
Meanwhile, Can someone shut up Ujjwal Nikam's bloodthirsty calls for Yakub Memon to be killed immediately. He has given another inappropriate interview. His role is over. He should keep quiet now. He has no locus in this matter now. His personal opinion does not matter.
www.thehindu.com/sunday-anchor/crime-must-be-punished/article7464989.ece
I think people like Nikam, the masterminds of the 1993 blasts and the police officials etc who covered up the larger conspiracy want Yakub Memon dead because dead men tell no tales.
Stop accusing people just because they don't agree with your idea. Many of us are against death penalty and believe that Mr. Nikam shouldn't have acted in certain manner, but that does not give you right to accuse him of covering conspiracy or to call him 'bloodthirsty'.
Seemaji, on one side you loath Justice Kode for going to media as unethical and unprofessional, while you hold Justice Katju's analysis in high regard. Why this differential treatment?
One can understand that death penalty itself is a matter of intense debate, and there are people who are inherently against it. The same people seem to use all sorts of conspiracy theories to absolve YM of his part-involvement in the conspiracy.
If his supporters are claiming that he returned to India on his own, that should be very easy to prove on the basis of air tickets of when and where he landed. If RAW/IB claim that they picked him from kathmandu with the help of Nepal police, the statements of Nepal police be included. I just fail to understand what is the rocket science behind this!
Why did his defense not put up the case of his surrender during the hearing and establish it?
Since the Indian State is planning to kill Yakub Memon in the name of every citizen of this country, we all have the right to express our views. As do Katju, Sodhi and Bedi, all retired judges who along with several others have expressed the view that the evidence against Yakub Memon was flimsy and that condemning Memon to die amounts to the gravest injustice.
Therefore besides the moral argument of whether or not the State should impose the death penalty, and besides the argument that there might be mitigating factors that should impact sentencing (the Raman article), there is also the argument that Yakub Memon's guilt was not established beyond reasonable doubt.
I am not even accepting the Raman posthumous writing as the cardinal truth. It cannot be accepted by a court as evidence.
Coming to Kode and Nikam, those two persons are not entitled to comment on this matter. Kode was the judge who convicted and sentenced Memon. His role ended when he signed the judgement. It is unethical, unprofessional, immoral and unbecoming for him now to comment on the trial or the judgment or on whether Memon should or should not get mercy from the State. The same applies to Ujjwal Nikam as he was the State prosecutor in the trial. He must shut up now.
The judgments can speak for themselves and we can all read them without comments and notations by either Kode or Nikam.
Since Ujjwal Nikam has acted exactly as I have described, I am perfectly entitled to describe what he has done and is doing and to condemn his bloodthirsty calls for Yakub Memon to be killed immediately.
Ujjwal Nkam needs to keep quiet now and must reflect on his biryani lie.
Sorry, but I have no respect for people like Ujjwal Nikam.
He has no locus in the matter. The judgments against Yakub Memon can speak for themselves and several prominent persons including at least three former SC judges have gone on record saying that the evidence against Yakub Memon was flimsy and that he should not be hanged.
Retired SC Judge HS Bedi criticizes Ujjwal Nikam for one sided, police favoring statements on TV against Yakub Memon.
twitter.com/IndiaToday/status/625679424726302724
See this report published today indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/yakub-memon-break-the-official-omerta/#sthash.SSNhEb5i.uxfs&st_refDomain=t.co&st_refQuery=/ruJL4mTQKP
Indian ExpressPrint
Yakub Memon: Break the official omerta
yakub memon, 1993 mumbai blasts, yakub memon hanging, yakub memon execution, Yakub mumbai blast, tiger memon, Supreme Court, yakub death penalty, yakub supreme court, indian express column, ie column, Maseeh Rahman column When an individual betrays your trust, you have the option of a legal remedy. But when a state displays bad faith, what do you do?
After I met Yakub Memon at the CBI headquarters in Delhi shortly after his formal arrest in August 1994, I got an unusual break as a journalist. The senior police officer who introduced me to Yakub gave me a piece of paper with some Karachi addresses written on it. “Can you get them photographed,” he asked.
I had visited Karachi a few times, and I could see that all the addresses were from upmarket residential areas. I was told that two of the addresses were the homes of the most wanted men in India — Dawood Ibrahim and Mushtaq “Tiger” Memon, the chief executor of the horrific March 1993 serial bombings in Mumbai. The third address was of Karachi-based smuggler Taufiq Jallianwala who, the CBI had discovered thanks to Yakub, was the key link between Pakistan’s ISI agency and the Mumbai bombings.
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Since I was working on a follow-up report for India Today on Yakub’s sudden and mysterious return to India from Pakistan, I immediately put an intrepid Pathan photographer in Karachi on the job. The pictures arrived a few days later, and the photographer confirmed that the grand bungalows indeed belonged to those notorious characters. All the photos were published in India Today. The senior CBI officer was so excited by this journalistic coup that he showed up at my house early one morning. And then I got to hear the full story.
Yakub Memon had decamped from the Memons’ plush sanctuary in Karachi with a cache of material that exposed the close relationship between the ISI and his older brother Tiger. He had flown to Nepal with the intention of crossing the border and assisting Indian authorities in exposing the heinous bomb conspiracy. But what Yakub had done seemed too good to be true. Was his return another devious conspiracy by the ISI? Was the Pakistani spy agency laying a trap for Indian investigators? CBI sleuths desperately needed to confirm at least one crucial piece of material evidence Yakub had brought along in order to believe his story. The plucky Pathan photographer had done just that. My CBI source was understandably elated.
How has it come about that a man like Yakub, who provided critical assistance to Indian investigators to nail the ISI for the first time ever in the long-running proxy war against India, is going to hang on Thursday morning in Nagpur jail?
When an individual betrays your trust, you have the option of a legal remedy. But when a state displays bad faith, what do you do? The legal dictionary defines “bad faith” as “the fraudulent deception of another person; the intentional or malicious refusal to perform some duty or contractual obligation”. This is exactly what Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao’s government can be accused of for what it did to Yakub and the other Memons who surrendered to the CBI on his initiative, convinced they would get justice in India.
The CBI showed me the video Yakub had shot, at great personal risk, of the bungalows, including extensive shots of the inside of the mansion given to Tiger by the ISI. I also heard an audio recording made by Yakub of conversations between Tiger and his associates. Yakub also provided detailed and authentic information on how the ISI had chaperoned the Memons, first in Karachi, then for a while in Bangkok, then back in Karachi, and the identity of the Pakistani army officer who acted as their minder.
But here’s the rub. “All the invaluable material Yakub provided us was produced during the trial,” a CBI officer recalled. “But it was interpreted in court as proof that all the Memons — and not just Tiger — were hiding from Indian authorities with the ISI’s help. The evidence that should have helped the Memons was read against them.” The reason was political. By the time the trial started a jittery Rao government was mortally scared of accusations that it had gone “soft on terrorists”.
The irony is that after Yakub’s return, not just CBI officers but even top Indian diplomats based in Dubai and Delhi had helped get the rest of the Memons safely back to India. Yet the top-level clampdown meant that none of these officials could testify in court. Overnight, the Memons were dog meat.
But truth has a way of revealing itself. Quite unexpectedly, the highly respected intelligence officer B. Raman, who had organised the logistics for Yakub’s return, broke the official omerta, albeit from his grave. Following Raman’s plea that Yakub should not hang as he had assisted the Mumbai bombings investigation, retired Justice H.S. Bedi has suggested that the Supreme Court take suo motu notice of Raman’s revelations and ask a trial court to re-examine the evidence. The evidence is already part of the legal record. A judge only needs to reassess it with the help of all the officials who played key roles in l’affaire Memon. But the officials will testify honestly only if they get an amnesty from the charge of contempt of court. For, as he admitted, the fear of contempt was one important reason why Raman did not publish his article against Yakub’s death sentence during his lifetime.
The writer is a Delhi-based journalist
Copyright © 2015 - The Indian Express ltd. All Rights Reserved
Yakub Memon: Break the official omerta
Maseeh Rahman column
When an individual betrays your trust, you have the option of a legal remedy. But when a state displays bad faith, what do you do?
After I met Yakub Memon at the CBI headquarters in Delhi shortly after his formal arrest in August 1994, I got an unusual break as a journalist. The senior police officer who introduced me to Yakub gave me a piece of paper with some Karachi addresses written on it. “Can you get them photographed,” he asked.
I had visited Karachi a few times, and I could see that all the addresses were from upmarket residential areas. I was told that two of the addresses were the homes of the most wanted men in India — Dawood Ibrahim and Mushtaq “Tiger” Memon, the chief executor of the horrific March 1993 serial bombings in Mumbai. The third address was of Karachi-based smuggler Taufiq Jallianwala who, the CBI had discovered thanks to Yakub, was the key link between Pakistan’s ISI agency and the Mumbai bombings.
Since I was working on a follow-up report for India Today on Yakub’s sudden and mysterious return to India from Pakistan, I immediately put an intrepid Pathan photographer in Karachi on the job. The pictures arrived a few days later, and the photographer confirmed that the grand bungalows indeed belonged to those notorious characters. All the photos were published in India Today. The senior CBI officer was so excited by this journalistic coup that he showed up at my house early one morning. And then I got to hear the full story.
Yakub Memon had decamped from the Memons’ plush sanctuary in Karachi with a cache of material that exposed the close relationship between the ISI and his older brother Tiger. He had flown to Nepal with the intention of crossing the border and assisting Indian authorities in exposing the heinous bomb conspiracy. But what Yakub had done seemed too good to be true. Was his return another devious conspiracy by the ISI? Was the Pakistani spy agency laying a trap for Indian investigators? CBI sleuths desperately needed to confirm at least one crucial piece of material evidence Yakub had brought along in order to believe his story. The plucky Pathan photographer had done just that. My CBI source was understandably elated.
How has it come about that a man like Yakub, who provided critical assistance to Indian investigators to nail the ISI for the first time ever in the long-running proxy war against India, is going to hang on Thursday morning in Nagpur jail?
When an individual betrays your trust, you have the option of a legal remedy. But when a state displays bad faith, what do you do? The legal dictionary defines “bad faith” as “the fraudulent deception of another person; the intentional or malicious refusal to perform some duty or contractual obligation”. This is exactly what Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao’s government can be accused of for what it did to Yakub and the other Memons who surrendered to the CBI on his initiative, convinced they would get justice in India.
The CBI showed me the video Yakub had shot, at great personal risk, of the bungalows, including extensive shots of the inside of the mansion given to Tiger by the ISI. I also heard an audio recording made by Yakub of conversations between Tiger and his associates. Yakub also provided detailed and authentic information on how the ISI had chaperoned the Memons, first in Karachi, then for a while in Bangkok, then back in Karachi, and the identity of the Pakistani army officer who acted as their minder.
But here’s the rub. “All the invaluable material Yakub provided us was produced during the trial,” a CBI officer recalled. “But it was interpreted in court as proof that all the Memons — and not just Tiger — were hiding from Indian authorities with the ISI’s help. The evidence that should have helped the Memons was read against them.” The reason was political. By the time the trial started a jittery Rao government was mortally scared of accusations that it had gone “soft on terrorists”.
The irony is that after Yakub’s return, not just CBI officers but even top Indian diplomats based in Dubai and Delhi had helped get the rest of the Memons safely back to India. Yet the top-level clampdown meant that none of these officials could testify in court. Overnight, the Memons were dog meat.
But truth has a way of revealing itself. Quite unexpectedly, the highly respected intelligence officer B. Raman, who had organised the logistics for Yakub’s return, broke the official omerta, albeit from his grave. Following Raman’s plea that Yakub should not hang as he had assisted the Mumbai bombings investigation, retired Justice H.S. Bedi has suggested that the Supreme Court take suo motu notice of Raman’s revelations and ask a trial court to re-examine the evidence. The evidence is already part of the legal record. A judge only needs to reassess it with the help of all the officials who played key roles in l’affaire Memon. But the officials will testify honestly only if they get an amnesty from the charge of contempt of court. For, as he admitted, the fear of contempt was one important reason why Raman did not publish his article against Yakub’s death sentence during his lifetime.
The writer is a Delhi-based journalist
Copyright © 2015 - The Indian Express ltd. All Rights Reserved
The Sheela Bhatt and B Raman articles are what in intelligence jargon is described as a limited hangout, meaning that it is a partial truth but not the full truth. But that Indian intelligence agencies entered into a deal with Yakub Memon is a constant in all accounts. And this deal was to cover up a larger conspiracy angle that has never been exposed and to instead lay the entire blame on Dawood, Tiger Memon and the ISI, etc - the convenient targets while the inconvenient parts of the truth were covered up.
For instance, it is often mentioned that the Pakistan headquartered BCCI bank (also believed to be the CIA's dirty bank) was used to fund the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts.
The relevant links -
www.rediff.com/news/special/from-rediff-archives-the-strange-case-of-yakub-memon/20150410.htm
www.rediff.com/news/2007/aug/08sheela.htm
www.rediff.com/news/special/it-is-important-to-know-the-truth-in-the-yakub-memon-case/20150727.htm
www.rediff.com/news/report/i-can-vouch-for-ramans-column-on-yakub-memon-brother/20150725.htm
www.rediff.com/news/column/exclusive-b-ramans-unpublished-2007-article-why-yakub-memon-must-not-be-hanged/20150723.htm
www.thequint.com/india/2015/07/26/b-ramans-emails-detail-yakub-memons-arrest-should-memon-hope
indiatoday.intoday.in/story/police-have-named-me-because-i-am-a-good-alibi-says-dawood-ibrahim/1/302050.html
Police have named me because I am a good alibi: Dawood Ibrahim
SHEELA BHATT | April 15, 1993 | 00:00
For nearly a decade Dawood Ibrahim has been the most formidable name in the pantheon of Indian smuggling. Last fortnight he shot into the limelight again as India put his name No. 13 in the list of wanted persons given to the UAE Government along with the Memons. High-profile but utterly media-shy, the don, now under pressure and palpably shaken, broke his silence in a rare interview with Senior Copy Editor Sheela Bhatt on the phone from Dubai. Excerpts:
I am a victim of media publicity. If RAW and CBI hold the inquiry in Delhi without involving the Bombay Police, I will return to India.
Q. Are you involved in the Bombay bombings?
A. When God has already given me so much, why would I do such a thing? I have flourishing businesses in India. You all know about them. Why would I jeopardise them? Also, have I ever, in my life, done anything against my country? Look at my record. Have I ever harmed a Government servant? The Memons may have fled. But my family is still in India. The police visit them every day. Would I do such a thing while my family is in India?
Q. But the police in India have named you as a suspect?
A. Let them complete the investigations and come up with evidence against me and I will present myself for interrogation by the CBI or RAW, if the Bombay police are not involved. The police have named me because I am a good alibi. They can't get Dawood, so name him. They know who has done this but facing facts is more inconvenient than naming somebody who is not there.
Q. Then who was involved? Didn't you know the Memons?
A. Where is the need for me to say who is involved when the police have all the names in their files? Knowing somebody is not a crime.
Q. But obviously the police can't have any enmity with you?
A. That's the way they behave. They can't find a better name than mine. Even the press, when it knows I am innocent, is scared of saying so because people will say Dawood ne kharid liya. (Dawood has bought them). For the police it is not a question of enmity. They don't have the courage to admit facts.
Q. Isn't it true that for once the pressure on you is intense?
A. There is no pressure from the police or the Government. I am not worried about that. But adverse media publicity causes me personal anguish. The truth will come out and it cannot be hidden. Whoever did such a dastardly act, killing innocent people, will not survive. He will be called to account. That is also my fervent wish.
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indiatoday.intoday.in/story/indian-media-has-already-painted-me-black-dawood-ibrahim/1/293945.html
Indian media has already painted me black: Dawood Ibrahim
SHEELA BHATT | August 31, 1994 | 00:00
Dawood Ibrahim
Dawood Ibrahim, the 38-year-old Bombay underworld don and prime accused in the Bombay blasts case, gave a long telephone interview to INDIA TODAY (Gujarati) Senior Copy Editor Sheela Bhatt during which he lost his cool several times. India's most wanted criminal was vehement and articulate, however, when trying to prove his innocence by claiming that he has become a pawn in the Pawar-Chavan feud. Excerpts:
Q. How has Yakub Memon's arrest affected you?
A. I am happy that he has been caught. At least the investigations are on the right track.
Q. Didn't you send him to India?
A. Why should I send him? I had nothing to do with him. I've never even seen his face.
Q. Did you ask Yakub to surrender so that he could clear your name?
A. Yakub is with you. Why not ask him? I was thinking about clearing my name when I received the news. Remember, Yakub made the statement on TV in front of the whole nation that he has not met me.
Q. So how come he appears to be clearing you of all charges?
A. The man who clears me of all charges will not be believed. If someone who knows says Dawood Ibrahim is innocent, then they say he has taken money from Dawood. An officer with whom I had a lot of discussions regarding this matter told me: "It is my firm belief that you are not involved in this case. If I want to say anything today, I will have to resign first. And if I don't resign, they will suspend me."
Q. But surely your name does not figure all the time without a reason?
A. That is due to political reasons. Ask them, what's the evidence against me. To know somebody is not a crime. I think I am a victim of the politics of Sharad Pawar and S.B. Chavan.
Q. But the charge is that Pawar is a friend of yours.
A. We are neither friends nor foes. When the press started hollering that Pawar had links with Dawood, the chief minister ordered the police to involve me in the case. But Chavan wants - now that I have already been maligned - to establish my involvement in the case and then prove that I had links with Pawar. This will provide him with all the ammunition to dislodge Pawar easily. So, they're both trying to frame me for their own vested interests.
Q. Where were you on March 12, 1993 - the day of the Bombay blasts?
A. I was at home and flooded by phone calls - from Sindhis, Muslims, Gujaratis. I was shocked beyond words. But when the car was found, I was relieved at the thought that some evidence was found and there was no reason to be afraid. I thought that now truth will prevail any moment. Suddenly I learnt that a man named Dawood Taklu had mentioned my name during interrogation. Till then, newspapers were questioning Bombay Police chief Samra about my involvement. He could not say anything. Just because of one man mentioning my name, I have a tarnished image.
Q. Did you know Tiger Memon?
A. He used to come to Dubai very often. But I didn't have any personal relationship or business deal with him. I know him the way I know every Bombayite who indulges in uncha neecha dhanda (shady deals). I have met him a number of times.
Q. But Tiger and you have the same kind of business.
A. Ask the police to take out Tiger Memon's record and draw conclusions whether I had any connection with him. If the record proves it, then you are free to bring whatever charges you want to against me.
Q. Are you saying that you had no hand in the Bombay blasts?
A. Yes, believe me, mein dil cheer kar to nahin dikha sakta. I had no connection whatsoever with the blasts.
Q. Yakub Memon is saying that the blasts were masterminded by the ISI. What is your relation with the ISI and with Taufiq Jaliawala?
A. I know nothing about the ISI. And, as far as Jaliawala is concerned, I have known him as a businessman in Dubai for the last 10 years.
Q. We now know that Jaliawala is an ISI man. Were you aware of that?
A. If I had known that he was an ISI man, why should I attend his wedding when my name was being hauled into the bomb blasts case? Or why should I allow myself to appear on the video recording of the marriage?
Q. You know Tiger Memon, Jaliawala and the Bombay underworld. Do you think the Bombay blasts were caused by Pakistan and the Memons?
A. I think Tiger Memon is involved because his own brother is saying so.
Q. But Tiger alone couldn't have pulled off such a big thing. How do you back your claim of innocence?
A. Tiger and his brother, who are behind the blasts, are the people best placed to tell you what had happened.
Q. You're charged with the murder of over 300 people in the blasts. The investigation is pointing towards you.
A. Well, I am prepared to work hard to prove my innocence. But I can't be forced to say things that I don't know.
Q. Your network was the strongest in western India when the blasts took place.
A. And how many of my men were involved in the blasts?
Q. We have to believe what the police say. But if you want to prove your innocence, you'll have to say who were involved.
A. When Tiger Memon is involved in the case, what else can I say?
Q. Who is behind Tiger?
A. Why don't you ask his brother?
Q. Why don't you surrender if you are innocent?
A. I am not fond of committing suicide. The police had framed me even before starting the investigation, and later on started producing evidence against me. I can never attempt such a dastardly act in my life. Even if I had, this is not the way I would have gone about it. I would have dealt with those who instigate violence and riots, not the ordinary people.
Q. You may not have executed the blasts, but did you finance them?
A. I didn't give a single penny. Look, I am into gang wars and smuggling, how was I to know about this type of plans.
Q. But they used the smuggling network, the people who have some knowledge about such operations.
A. What the hell are you saying? Stop arguing like the police. I am in a desperate situation. They have reduced me to a mouse. I am trapped and cannot move around freely.
Q. Yakub has also said that you are involved with Jaliawala.
A. That Jaliawala is a businessman and a smuggler. I maintain a good friendship with everyone in Dubai. Just because I am a Muslim, does it mean I shouldn't talk to a Pakistani?
Q. Do you think that jaliawala is the man behind the blasts?
A. I had never heard about his involvement. In fact I was surprised when I came to know of it.
Q. Are you under scrutiny in Dubai?
A. People in Dubai support me. But the pressures from India, I mean the allegations, only confuse people. The Indian media has already painted me black. And they write only what the Government says.
Q. Do you have any properties in Bombay?
A. They are there - the ones that are of my parents, my brothers.
Q. What about benami property?
A. Why, isn't there any other place than Bombay to own benami property? When I can legally own property, why should I go in for benami? Why should I leave property worth crores of rupees in someone else's name?
Q. People think you are Pawar's man.
A. No, I am not Pawar's man. Neither do I have any relation with Chavan. If you think Pawar is the guardian of my property, then you people take it. I am prepared to give it in writing.
Q. It is said your sentiments were hurt due to the Bombay riots and that you wanted to take revenge...
A. The world was moved by those riots, why do you talk about me alone? But there was nothing about taking revenge. There have been many riots in India before. Is there any police record which says that I was involved in any one of them?
Q. So why are the police implicating you in the case?
A. Because I am a Muslim. I have a name in the community. But leave alone me, even if a Muslim bhangi (sweeper) happens to be well known, they won't tolerate it.
Q. Who won't tolerate it?
A. Those who are communal.
Q. Such as?
A. There are many, like Bal Thackeray. Just see, he openly says, "we have demolished the mosque". Because of this 600 lives were lost. He moves around scot free. And here I am, saying I have not caused the blasts, but just because I'm a Muslim nobody believes me.
Q. After the Bombay riots, you sought to take revenge on Hindus by instigating Muslim militants. A meeting took place at your residence on January 10, 1993.
A. The atmosphere was very sensitive and people were tense. In Dubai also, there were meetings for the relief of the victims. You interpret such a meeting as that of the planning of the blasts.
Q. Are you saying you didn't participate in the meeting at your home?
A. The times were such. In Dubai this was the hot topic. The whole world would be talking about Bombay. I have never seen RDX in my life.
Q. It is ridiculous to accept your version at face value. Why then are you a prime accused?
A. This is a Chavan-Pawar feud in which I have become a pawn. The Bombay police have linked my name with the blasts to establish the fact that I am not from the Pawar camp. There is no case on me. It is just politics.
Q. Tell us once and for all, do you have any relations with Pawar?
A. If I had any relations with him, he could have saved me.
Q. You had links previously, through Bhai Thakur.
A. Please stop all this. Do not try to trap me.
Q. Tell us something about your personal life.
A. I studied up to SSC in Urdu medium. I have been married for the past nine years and I have one boy and three daughters.
Q. What is your currrent income?
A. I have sufficient money from the past. Do you want a donation?
Q. Do you donate funds to political parties?
A. Not to just the Congress(I). I donate to all parties.
Q. Do you have contacts in Delhi?
A. Why are you asking me this? I am already in trouble. Let me clear out of this first, then I can talk to you about other things.
Q. The Indian Government says you are in Pakistan.
A. The Indian Government is always saying something or the other. I do not stay in Pakistan but I keep visiting the country frequently.
Q. Do you stay in Pakistan?
A. Why are you after me? Let me live in peace. Let me have a roof above me. I keep going to Pakistan.
Q. But how? You can't travel like an ordinary man.
A. You want to bet, you choose any place in the world and I'll meet you there.
Q. But you can't go to London or Geneva, because India has signed extradition treaties.
A. I do not go anywhere officially. What is your problem if I go to any place? I always go to a place where there is no extradition treaty.
Q. As seen in a recent photograph of yours, you have drastically changed your looks. Why?
A. Nothing has changed. Only the moustache is no longer there.
Q. Why not talk to the press if you are innocent as you claim? Khairnar is talking to everybody.
A. Khairnar is talking to everybody and he has also been provided with official security. And the world knows the lies he is telling.
Q. What are these lies?
A. Whenever he demolishes any building, he says he has demolished a Dawood building. And thinks any property worth crores of rupees is Dawoods. He is not an imbecile. He is something more than that - he has demolished one Dawood building and under the pretext of demolishing other buildings owned by Dawood, he has razed buildings of a hundred Muslims in Bombay. Look at the atrocities he has committed on Muslims.
Q. Do you think that India has gone communal?
A. Yes. Some of them have become communal.
Q. Such as?
A. Bal Thackeray and the Bombay Police are totally communal. They are after me because I am a Muslim. Nobody has earned such a name and that is why they are trying to suppress me. Some of them are afraid that I may become a top leader of the Muslims.
Q. What difference have the accusations made to your lifestyle?
A. Nothing at all. Only that, I ask myself why this injustice is perpetrated on me. I move around normally. You have seen my recent photographs and I am sure you have found me looking smart in them.
Q. What do you want now?
A. Justice. I want justice in front of the Indian public. At the rate at which the police is progressing, I doubt if I will get any justice. I prefer to be tried in a neutral country. Death will come and it will come only once. I am not afraid. But I am afraid of wrong evidence. I am telling you once again that the investigation of the police is false. I have read the long chargesheet of the case, where I came to know that the people accused have said that they had come to Dubai and met me. I have 2,000 men in India. Couldn't I have sent any one of them to these people, or couldn't I have talked to any of them on the phone?
Q.So do you claim to be a clean guy?
A. No. I am not saying that I am a pandit from the temple nor a mullah. I am bad but not as bad as the government has made me out to be. I am not an angel nor an avatar. Even then, I repeat that I am not involved in the case. I also believe that the Bombay blast case has been solved. The CBI knows everything.
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URL for this article :
indiatoday.intoday.in/story/indian-media-has-already-painted-me-black-dawood-ibrahim/1/293945.html
@ Copyright 2012 India Today Group.
Q. Why not talk to the press if you are innocent as you claim? Khairnar is talking to everybody.
A. Khairnar is talking to everybody and he has also been provided with official security. And the world knows the lies he is telling.
Q. What are these lies?
A. Whenever he demolishes any building, he says he has demolished a Dawood building. And thinks any property worth crores of rupees is Dawoods. He is not an imbecile. He is something more than that - he has demolished one Dawood building and under the pretext of demolishing other buildings owned by Dawood, he has razed buildings of a hundred Muslims in Bombay. Look at the atrocities he has committed on Muslims.
Q. Do you think that India has gone communal?
A. Yes. Some of them have become communal.
Q. Such as?
A. Bal Thackeray and the Bombay Police are totally communal. They are after me because I am a Muslim. Nobody has earned such a name and that is why they are trying to suppress me. Some of them are afraid that I may become a top leader of the Muslims.
Q. What difference have the accusations made to your lifestyle?
A. Nothing at all. Only that, I ask myself why this injustice is perpetrated on me. I move around normally. You have seen my recent photographs and I am sure you have found me looking smart in them.
Q. What do you want now?
A. Justice. I want justice in front of the Indian public. At the rate at which the police is progressing, I doubt if I will get any justice. I prefer to be tried in a neutral country. Death will come and it will come only once. I am not afraid. But I am afraid of wrong evidence. I am telling you once again that the investigation of the police is false. I have read the long chargesheet of the case, where I came to know that the people accused have said that they had come to Dubai and met me. I have 2,000 men in India. Couldn't I have sent any one of them to these people, or couldn't I have talked to any of them on the phone?
Q.So do you claim to be a clean guy?
A. No. I am not saying that I am a pandit from the temple nor a mullah. I am bad but not as bad as the government has made me out to be. I am not an angel nor an avatar. Even then, I repeat that I am not involved in the case. I also believe that the Bombay blast case has been solved. The CBI knows everything.
Print Close
URL for this article :
indiatoday.intoday.in/story/indian-media-has-already-painted-me-black-dawood-ibrahim/1/293945.html
@ Copyright 2012 India Today Group.
indiatoday.intoday.in/story/bombay-serial-blasts-search-on-for-bombay-12-member-memon-family/1/302029.html
archive.indianexpress.com/news/national-interest-because-we-forget/1095140/0
hindunet.org/hvk/articles/0806/151.html
BTW what role did Abu Salem play. Is his trial for 1993 blasts complete?
www.thequint.com/india/2015/07/22/the-gripping-and-uncertain-tale-of-yakub-memons-surrender
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/How-the-Memons-walked-into-CBI-trap/articleshow/2239995.cms
aamjanata.com/who-profits-from-hanging-yakub-memon/
www.firstpost.com/india/tiger-yakub-ayub-meet-memons-convicted-1993-mumbai-blasts-case-2356248.html
indiatoday.intoday.in/story/bombay-blasts-case-yakub-memon-arrest-revelations-reconfirm-active-role-played-by-pakistan/1/293931.html
indiatoday.intoday.in/story/in-major-coup-with-memons-dramatic-return-cbi-tantalisingly-close-to-solving-the-puzzle/1/294030.html
indiatoday.intoday.in/story/transcript-of-yakub-memon-sensational-karachi-tape/1/294010.html
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/specials/The-ones-who-got-away/articleshow/2254905.cms
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Abu-Salem-accepts-role-in-Mumbai-blasts/articleshow/1293732.cms
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