India now seems to be on a spree to bring back criminals who had evaded justice. After extradition of the prime accused of AgustaWestland case, Christian Michel, India is set to extradite Sohail Sheikh, nephew of Dawood Ibrahim from America. This can be seen as major achievement of Modi government’s diplomacy as far as bringing perpetrators to justice is concerned.
The US has agreed to deport Sohail Sheikh to India. Sohail Sheikh happens to be the son of Dawood’s brother Nura. He was held by American authorities in 2016 on the charges of smuggling weapons against narcotics.
Earlier, Dubai Police had detained Anwar Babu Sheikh, brother of Dawood’s close aide Chhota Shakeel. Anwar Babu has been wanted by Mumbai and Thane police over his involvement in the March 1993, Mumbai Serial blasts along with several other offenses. He was also issued with red corner notice from Interpol after Mumbai explosions.
During the investigation, the Dubai Police seized a Pakistani passport from Anwar Babu after which the authorities are seeking his deportation. With this development, both Indian and Pakistani embassies in the UAE are said to have come in contact with the Dubai authorities in relation to his deportation.
Anwar is considered of working in collusion with Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI and have been conspiring terrorist activities against India. Prior to this, AgustaWestland scam prime accused Christian Michel was also extradited to India via ‘Operation Unicorn’ that was spearheaded by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and duly coordinated by the interim CBI chief M. Nageshwar Rao. CBI has accused Christian Michel of paying a hefty amount of money to the Indian authorities to procure the contract for 12 VVIP choppers from Augusta Westland in 2010.
The deal was signed in 2010, the scam though came to light three years later, when the company’s CEO and the chairman of its Italian parent company Finmeccanica was arrested in Italy. Four of the twelve AW101 helicopters that the Air Force had ordered were already delivered when the arrests took place in Italy. The then defense minister, A K Anthony ordered a probe into the charges that the Italian investigators made, and the deal was subsequently scrapped in 2014.
Michel’s extradition to India will add to the injuries of the Congress party who have just received a setback from the Supreme Court on the Rafale deal. The Italian court while carrying out investigations found notes that were exchanged between Christian Michel and Peter Hullet. Hullet in his note asked Michel to target Sonia Gandhi, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former president Pranab Mukherjee, the then oil minister Veerappa Moily and party’s chief strategist Ahmed Patel and senior leader Oscar Fernandes. Other names mentioned include NSA M K Narayanan, Vinay Kumar an officer in the Defense Ministry and the then Air marshal S P Tyagi.
Similarly, the government also plans to extradite Vijay Mallya from the UK as a joint team of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) headed by CBI Joint Director A Sai Manohar attended an important hearing in the extradition case at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London. The court has allowed the extradition of Mallya and this can be seen as yet another success of the Modi government in bringing fugitives back.