It rains bloopers on India?s wanted list

A second mistake in India’s Most Wanted List of terrorists sent to Pakistan was unearthed on Thursday.

After a blooper in the list of terrorists supposedly hiding in Pakistan left India?s home ministry egg-faced, media reports on Thursday said another ?fugitive? on the roll was located in a Mumbai jail.

On Thursday, NDTV reported that another one of the suspects believed to be in Pakistan, Feroz Abdul Khan, wanted for the 1993 Mumbai blasts, was apparently lodged in the Arthur Road Jail after being arrested by the crime branch of the police in February 2010.

According to Feroz Abdul Khan?s page on the CBI?s website, he ?is wanted? for his involvement in the landing of arms and explosives for the series of bomb blasts that rocked Mumbai on Mar 12 1993 which resulted in death of 257 persons, injuries to 713 persons and an estimated loss of property worth Rs 27 crores.

Reacting to the report of a series of gaffes, CBI spokesperson Dharini Mishra said :”The CBI is taking a complete review”.

She said the CBI has transferred an SP and a Deputy SP over the errors.

Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley in a scathing attack to the government said: “It is a huge PR advantage to Pakistan.”

“The government has trivialized the entire thing and they should first fight the error and then terror,” he said, reacting to the discovery of a second error.

The second error in the Most Wanted list also came on a day when it was found that a CBI team has reached Copenhagen for the extradition of Kim Davy, the prime accused in the 1995 Purulia arms drop case, with a warrant that has expired.

Chidambaram on Wednesday took responsibility of the ?mistake? in including one Wazhul Kamar Khan among the 50 most wanted fugitives’ names sent to Pakistan, though he actually resides in Thane and attends court regularly for his trial in a 2003 train blast case.

The BJP slammed Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on his statement on ‘Most Wanted’ goof-up. ?It’s not a small error, it’s a monumental lapse,? said the BJP.

At a press conference, Chidambaram said, “We take responsibility for the mistake. There was a lapse on the part of the Intelligence Bureau in not reflecting the information received,?

He, however, said it was a ?normal human error?.

?It was a normal human error due to oversight in compilation but should not have occurred,” the minister said.

Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) removed Khan?s name from its most wanted list after it was found that he resides in Mumbai and attends court or his trial in a 2003 train blast case.

The goof-up triggered strong reactions from the Opposition, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) calling the mistake the highest level of incompetence of the home ministry.

Wazhul Kamar Khan’s name was sent to Pakistan recently by the home ministry of India along with 49 others that included gangster and terrorist Dawood Ibrahim.

But Khan was traced to Thane district’s Waghle Estate living with his family and out in bail.
He was arrested in 2010 for his alleged involvement in the Mulund train blast of 2003 in which 11 people were killed and many injured.

“I am living here and attending court regularly. The local police also knows me,” Khan told TV channels.

BJP leader Arun Jaitley said the lapse is monumental and it embarrassed the entire country.

“Why should incompetence of the home ministry embarrass the country like this. The Home Ministry has risen to the optimum of its incompetence,” said Jaitley, adding that the person who caused this embarrassment should be found and hold accountable.

Speaking to TV channels, Khan’s wife said they had never been to Pakistan or anyone ever came to visit them from Pakistan. She claimed that her husband is innocent and attends court.

Khan is also an accused in other blasts in 2003 at Vile-Parle and Ghatkopar besides one in Mumbai Central a year back.

India’s home ministry on May 11 made public a list of 50 most wanted men hiding in Pakistan with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed featuring it as some of the top terrorists enjoying the protection of its neighbour.

Khan’s name was also on the list.

With Pakistan cornered over the discovery of Osama bin Laden in its territory after the US Navy Seals and CIA operatives killed him in a covert operation on May 2, India is now better positioned to tell before the world how terrorists targeting India are finding a safe haven in Pakistan.

But the blooper could now be used by Pakistan to charge India of ham-handed approach to tracking terrorists and always blaming it on them.

At least 21 of those in the list are from the Dawood group. They included Anees Ibrahim, Tiger Memon and Chhota Shakeel.

26/11 mastermind Hafeez Saeed tops the list.

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed leads Jama’at-ud-Da’wah, a charity thought to be a cover organisation for militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

The list of 50 also includes Maulana Masood Azhar, the mastermind of the Kandahar hijacking in December 1999.