Dawood Ibrahim's wife visited Mumbai in 2016, his brother told investigators yesterday. (File)
The Congress on Saturday demanded that the Narendra Modi government explain how underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's wife managed to visit Mumbai last year undetected and said that it raises questions on the credibility of the Centre and Maharashtra government as well as the state and central security agencies.
"Wife of Ibrahim, Mehajabin Shaikh came to meet her father in 2016 in Mumbai and the Modi government kept on sleeping," Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said in a video message.
Mr Surjewala's remarks came a day after the arrested brother of Dawood, Iqbal Ibrahim Kaskar told investigators that his sister-in-law, Mehjabin Shaikh (Dawood's wife) visited Mumbai sometime in 2016 to meet her father, Salim Kashmiri, before quietly departing. The Thane Police, however, have denied making any such revelation.
Targetting the investigative agencies of the government, Mr Surjewala questioned, "What was CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) doing? What was Research and Analysis Wing (RA&W) doing?"
Slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, the Congress leader said, "Wife of a terrorist, who is wanted in many terror cases arrives in India to meet her father and then goes back."
"Why she was not arrested? Why no action was taken against her?" he asked.
He also said that this shocking revelation was made by Mumbai's Thane police.
"The Prime Minister (Narendra Modi), Defence Minister (Nirmala Sitharaman) and Home Minister (Rajnath Singh) must give answers," he said.
Iqbal was arrested early on Tuesday by a crack team of Thane Anti-Extortion Cell headed by former encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma who had picked him up from his Mumbai home late on Monday night in an extortion case.
Congress Rajya Sabha leader Rajiv Shukla termed the matter as very serious and said that it raises question on the credibility of the central and state government as well as the central investigative agencies.
"Dawood's wife Mehajabin Shaikh came to India in 2016 for 15 days. What was Mumbai Police doing? What were the central and Maharashtra government doing? What were the other agencies doing?" he asked.
"It is a very serious issue. It is like 'diya tale andhera' (darkness under a lamp -- or something taking place right under your nose). The state government, Mumbai Police and all the central agencies should answer how it happened, as it raises questions on their credibility," he added.