Click to play videoNew Delhi: Indian intelligence agencies on Tuesday categorically rejected newspaper reports about the detention of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and some of his henchmen by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence in Karachi.
The intelligence agencies, which have been tracking Dawood all this while, say it is highly improbable that Dawood and his henchmen have been taken into custody by the ISI. "There is no basis for these reports," they say.
These agencies have, however, confirmed to CNN-IBN that the gangster is very much in Karachi, and not in Quetta as reported in sections of the media on Tuesday.
Newspaper reports on Tuesday claimed Dawood has been taken into custody by the ISI along with his trusted lieutenant Chhota Shakeel and the 1993 Mumbai blasts mastermind Tiger Memon.
The reports claimed that the trio was rounded up last Thursday from their hideout near the Pak-Afghan border. The three are currently being held at a safe-house on the outskirts of Quetta, they say.
The reports described the ISI move as a desperate move by the Pakistani intelligence agency to save face of the Musharraf regime amid mounting US pressure to arrest these criminals.
The Indian intelligence, however, trashed these reports. They, however, confirmed that the don was indeed injured in a gambling brawl on Monday. The underworld don, India's most wanted fugitive, was shot in his left leg when a scuffle broke out between him and his fellow gamblers — Firoz Gitto, Firoz Dausa and Black Prince.
The incident took place in the penthouse of Regent Crown Plaza Hotel in Karachi. The hotel belongs to infamous gambler Firrazudin Baweza.
For years now, India has been claiming that Dawood is indeed in Pakistan and he has been enjoying the full support of the ISI. From time to time, New Delhi has also furnished proofs to Islamabad about Dawood's presence in Karachi and demanded that he should be handed over to India.
On its part, Pakistan has always denied the presence of these people in its territory.
Last week, US endorsed the view of India that Dawood was indeed in Pakistan after the FBI and US drug enforcement agencies laid their hands on evidence that proved Dawood's role as a facilitator of the al-Qaeda and his complete control over the international drug syndicate.
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