File photo of Dawood Ibrahim
Dawood Ibrahim, one of India's most-wanted men for masterminding the 1993 blasts in Mumbai in which 300 people were killed, has not been located so far, the government said in Parliament today, contradicting its own stated position that he is in Pakistan.
In response to a question by a BJP MP on the gangster's extradition, Minister of State for Home, Haribhai Chaudhury, said in the Lok Sabha, "The subject has not been located so far. Extradition process with regard to Dawood Ibrahim would be initiated once the subject is located."
India has always maintained that the 59-year-old is in Karachi, under the Pakistan government's protection.
Mr Chaudhury's statement is far from what his boss, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, had said in December. "We have repeatedly asked Pakistan to hand over Dawood Ibrahim. Let's be patient; action will be taken soon," Mr Singh had said after a western intelligence agency claimed that it had recorded a telephone conversation involving Dawood and traced his location to Karachi.
Dawood Ibrahim is at number 8 on a list of 50 most wanted terrorists that India handed over to Pakistan in 2011. India had submitted to Pakistan several dossiers giving details about his location. Then Home Minister P Chidambaram had said that India was "aware of the street on which he lives."
Amid a snowballing controversy, Haribhai Chaudhury told reporters, "I presented what I was told."
Sources say home ministry officials have gone into a huddle, trying to investigate what is being seen as a major blunder.
The reply, say sources, was framed by the ministry's internal security unit. It raises two possibilities, both grim.
If what Mr Chaudhury said in the house is true, it means Dawood Ibrahim is off the Indian intelligence scanner and cannot be located any more.
That the minister's Parliament reply is incorrect and the result of a drafting error is being seen as a stronger possibility.