D-company planned a new terror outfit to kill Hindu leaders, attack churches: NIA

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had claimed that the D-company led by fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim had planned to create a new terror outfit to eliminate Hindu leaders and trigger communal clashes to avenge 2002 Gujarat riots.

According to a chargesheet filed by the NIA in connection with the sensational murder of two BJP leaders in Gujarat's Bharuch in 2015, the conspiracy to create a new terror outfit was hatched by the Dawood gang in Karachi and South Africa.

The D-company wanted to trigger communal violence by killing Hindu-leaders and throwing alcohol bottles at churches in India, the NIA said in its chargesheet.

India Today reported that the NIA, based on its investigation, concluded that the international crime syndicate was trying to lure its recruits by offering handsome money and jobs in foreign countries.

The underworld had asked its recruits in India to throw petrol bombs and indulge in arson in churches. The entire motive to kill Hindu leaders and attack churches was to create communal tension, the NIA mentioned in its chargesheet filed against ten accused in the BJP leaders' murder case.

The killing of former BJP president of Bharuch and senior RSS member Shirish Bangali and general secretary of Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha Pragnesh Mistry in Bharuch by two unidentified gunmen on November 2, 2015 was done at the behest of the Dawood gang, it said.

NIA further stated that the conspiracy was to kill Hindu leaders allegedly involved in the 2002 Gujarat riots and who were perceived to be anti-Muslim.

The D-company had even allegedly asked its recruits to kill Hindus in the name of Islam while authorising others to extort money using its name.

The D-Company, through Javed Chikna planned to target Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal leaders who were active in the Gujarat riots of 2002 and who are generally vocal and perceived to be anti-Muslims, the NIA said.

"As part of the plan, Javed Chikna (based in Pakistan) and another senior member of D-Company (based in South Africa) Zahid Miyan alias Jao contacted several of their men including Chikna's brother Abid Patel and Yunus (also called Manjrao) and asked them to prepare a list of such leaders," NIA reportedly mentioned in the chargesheet.

A total of 12 accused were arrested in connection with the case and were booked under relevant sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, IPC, Arms Act the Gujarat Police Act

Abid Patel (brother of Dawood's close aide Javed Patel alias Chikna who is based in Pakistan), Saiyed Imran, Zuheb Ansari, Inayat Patel, Mohmad Yunus, Haider Ali, Nissarbhai Sheikh, Mohsin Khan Pathan, Mohmed Altaf Shaikh and Abdul Salim Ghanchi are among those who have been named by the NIA in its chargesheet.

The security agencies have recently warned that Pakistan's ISI is once again seeking the help of underworld to strike violence in the country and trigger communal clashes by using the Babri and Godhra slogans.