Was Dilip Kumar a Pakistani spy?

The tragedy king of Bollywood, Dilip Kumar, was not immune to controversies, and most of them have received intense scrutiny. But there is one dark chapter that is mostly ignored by the mainstream media. In the 1960s, there were accusations that Dilip Kumar (maiden name Yusuf Khan) was a Pakistani spy. Many claimed that he was helping Pakistan gather intelligence from India.

It was claimed that he frequently visited Pakistan on one pretext or another for the same reason. In this article, we will highlight the development that gave birth to these presumptions, accusations, or rumours, whatever they were, that have been mostly overlooked by the vast majority of media houses.

Dilip Kumar’s house is raided by police

Born in the streets of Peshawar, Dilip Kumar came to Mayanagari, located in Bombay. It is a widely known fact that he was blunt in nature and that at times he openly opposed the ruling party, i.e., the Nehru-Gandhi family. But some controversies still loom large, and mystery revolves around the veracity of its conclusion.

Apparently, when the India-Pakistan war was in full swing, there was news that spy equipment was found in the house of an important person, and this person used to pass a lot of information to Pakistan. In fact, the Calcutta Police raided the house of this prominent figure in this connection. And that prominent personality was none other than the tragedy king of Bollywood, Yusuf Khan, aka Dilip Kumar. The Calcutta police also questioned him in this matter.

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This occurred in the 1960s, when Dilip Kumar was suspected of being a Pakistani spy. It all started when an employee of the production department of company of Dilip Kumar, Citizen Films, was arrested by the Kolkata police on charges of being a Pakistani spy. During the investigation of the accused, the police got hold of a diary that had the names of several known faces, the biggest of them all being Dilip Kumar.

There were several contrarian reports on things seized from his house during this raid. Some reports claimed that nothing suspicious was found in Dilip Kumar’s house. Other reports claimed that a radio transmitter was found under the floor of Dilip Kumar’s house and that he was the mastermind of Pakistan’s Muslim spies in the film industry. The same reports cite Dilip Kumar’s defence that he wanted to secretly listen to Pakistani radio, which was banned in India.

We can’t vouch for the veracity of both of these claims. Many people also highlight certain incidents that give strength to their apprehensions and suspicions. When Pakistan awarded him the Nishan-e-Imtiaz, people were against the idea that he should accept this award, but he claimed that he consulted the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee before taking this honour.

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Then in 1998, Dilip Kumar went to Pakistan to receive this award, along with Sunil Dutt, who was also born in undivided India. Later, during the Kargil war, there was a widespread demand that Dilip Kumar return the honour bestowed on him by Pakistan, but he refused to do so.

Apart from this, he had good relations with Pakistani leaders like Imran Khan. Additionally, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri made it clear that Dilip Kumar regularly used to visit Pakistan in the name of some important mission. He was more active when Zia-ul-Haq’s rule had just begun.

Was it all just a coincidence? Was Dilip Kumar really a Pakistani spy? The answer to this pertinent question either lay with Pakistan or was buried deep with Dilip Kumar. Do share your insights in this matter and tell us in the comment section whether you knew about this fiasco or not.