In big setback to India, Pakistan gets custody of terrorist wanted in BJP leader Haren Pandya's murder

Farukh Devdiwala is a close associate of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and was recently nabbed in Dubai.

Reported by Rakesh Trivedi

NEW DELHI: In a big setback to the Indian agencies, the authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have reportedly given custody of Farukh Devdiwala - one of the most wanted terror suspect and an accused in BJP leader Haren Pandya's murder - to Pakistan.

According to reports, Farukh Devdiwala, who is a close associate of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, was recently nabbed in Dubai along with a man called Sam who hails from Jogeshwari locality in Mumbai. 

Sam too has been handed over to Pakistan, sources claim. The deportation of the two was reportedly done a week ago.

Devdiwala was apprehended in UAE following specific inputs provided by the Indian agencies. 

The Indian officials were probing a terror module run by Devdiwala along with Pakistan's notorious spy agency ISI when they got to know about his presence in UAE and consequently informed the authorities there. However, in a dramatic turn of events, Pakistan later claimed that Devdiwala was not an Indian but a Pakistani national.

Based on the claims made by the Pakistani officials, the authorities in UAE reportedly handed him over to Pakistan.

The Indian intelligence officials believe that Pakistan managed to get the custody of Devdiwala with the help of forged documents prepared by its notorious spy agency ISI.  

If intelligence sources are to be believed, the ISI has constituted a special cell to keep a tab on terrorists wanted in India but arrested on foreign soil. This special cell of the ISI produces fake documents to obtain the custody of these terrorist elements so as to prevent their deportation to India.

Devdiwala is believed to be involved in recruiting terrorists and training then to launch attacks on the Indian soil.

He was also accused of hatching the conspiracy to eliminate late Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya and involvement in various other cases.

Devdiwala was earlier associated with the Arjun gang from Musafirkhana before finally joining hands with Dawood. He also closely worked with Salim Kutta – another D Gang member.

Two such terror suspects were nabbed by Maharashtra ATS in the month of May from Mumbai and Gandhinagar. 

Both these suspects had undergone training in Pakistan based terror camps and had returned to India reportedly to launch terror attacks. During their interrogation, they revealed the names of some top political leaders and establishments which they were targeting.

They also revealed the name of Devdiwala and exposed his network and links with the ISI.

However, this is not the first time that Pakistan has used such tactics to win custody of terrorists and dreaded criminals wanted in India.

Pakistan has used the same modus operandi to gain custody of Munna Jhingada, the alleged shooter who shot underworld don Chota Rajan in Bangkok on orders of Dawood Ibrahim.

The case is still pending in a Thailand court despite Mumbai police providing fingerprints, dossiers on Jhingada to the Thai court.

Pakistan has been claiming that Jhingada is a Pakistani national and provided forged documents to substantiate its claim.