Most wanted ultra stays in Mumbai

An embarrassment, though not equal in measure to “the Kandahar transfer” of three terrorists under the NDA dispensation, saw a red-faced Home Ministry ordering a probe to find how the name of an accused in the 2003 train blast figured in the list handed over to Pakistan on May 11.

The so-called most wanted fugitive Wazhul Qamar Khan, arrested last year for his alleged role in the 2003 Mulund train blasts, was found to be moving on with his routine family life at a Mumbai suburb. Unmindful of it, India sought Pakistan to hand him over along with 49 others, including mafia leader Dawood Ibrahim. Khan’s name is at number 41 in the list.

Home Minister P Chidambaram, currently on a trip to North-East, said the list was prepared over a time and there could be two persons of the same name. “I have not prepared the list,” he said on the issue which could be a major embarrassment for the Home Ministry that has been, for sometime, raving and ranting about “the wanted terrorists” finding shelter in Pakistan.

The inquiry into the faux pas will cover the whole process of preparing the list of 50 most wanted fugitives at different stages and pin-point the officials responsible in including the name of Khan.

“It could have been a cut and paste job at some stage. We will find out who is responsible for it,” official sources said.

Turning more heat on Pakistan, India last week released a list of 50 “most wanted fugitives”, including underworld criminal Dawood, 26/11 mastermind and LeT founder Hafiz Saeed and dreaded terrorist Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi, hiding in that country.
Hafiz Saeed, who is involved in the Mumbai terror attack and various other attacks in India, tops the list which also includes Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar, the principal accused in the 2001 Parliament attack after his release in exchange of hostages in the Kandahar hijack episode in 1999.