JOIN USIB team flies to Chile to identify IA hijacker
The authorities in Chile are understood to have informed the CBI about Rauf’s arrest.
“His identity as hijacker is to be ascertained. Finger prints of the person have been received,” sources said. A red corner notice had been issued against Rauf.
The Indian Airlines plane from Kathmandu hijacked on December 24, 1999, had landed at Amritsar airport before flying to Pakistan and finally landing at Kandhar in Afghanistan. The hijackers released passengers in exchange for three terrorists jailed in India, including the terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed founder Maulana Masood Azhar.
Abdul Rauf, brother-in-law of Maulana Masood Azhar, is sought by CBI in the hijacking case.
Four accomplices of Rauf—Mohammed Rehan and Mohammed Iqbal from Pakistan, Yusuf Nepali of Nepal and Abdul Latif of India—arrested earlier by the CBI, are currently in jail. Latif has reportedly admitted in a confession that Rauf and Yousuf Azhar, brother of Masood Azhar, had travelled to India and Nepal several times before the hijacking to hatch the plot.
A surprise
Reports said Rauf was travelling in Chile with a passport bearing his real identity. It is considered surprising for an international criminal with Interpol notice against him to travel with his real identity when he could secure fake documents with ease.
The handling of the crisis by Brajesh Mishra, the then National Security Adviser under the NDA regime, turned controversial when the plane was allowed to move out of Indian air space after it landed at Amritsar. The crisis management team remained indecisive till the plane flew out to Pakistani air space and thereafter to Afghanistan, making negotiations difficult in a hostile country ruled by Taliban militia. The passengers were released on December 31, 1999.
The incident also kicked up a political controversy when L K Advani of the BJP, the then home minister, claimed that he had not been aware of the Cabinet decision to release terrorists. Former foreign minister Jaswant Singh and a Cabinet colleague who “infamously” went to Kandahar along with the three terrorists, had disputed Advani’s assertion saying the Cabinet decision had been unanimous.