Thailand may extradite don aide to India, not Pak

Thailand may extradite don aide to India, not Pak

As a major victory for the Indian government and the Mumbai police, the Thailand government has denied the extradition of fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim’s aide Mudassar Hussain Sayyed alias Munna Jhingada, to Pakistan. Instead they are considering handing him over to India. According to sources, the Thailand government had recently sent a communication to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) through diplomatic channels with regard to Jhingada’s extradition. It was addressed to the CBI as it is in liaison with the Interpol and handles extraditions and deportations of criminals. Jhingada was behind bars in Bangkok for his involvement in shooting at gangster Chhota Rajan in 2001. Rajan got injured, but his close aide Rohit Verma died. Since Jhingada’s sentence is due for completion this year, Pakistani authorities were the first to approach the Thailand government stating that Jhingada’s real name was Mohammed Salim and that he was a Pakistani national. They also provided the details of ‘Salim’s’ Pakistani passport. The Indian embassy in Thailand alerted Indian authorities when they learnt of Pakistan’s move. A city police team then flew to Bangkok in March, armed with evidence against Jhingada stating he was their national. A senior crime branch officer said that the evidence provided by the Indian authorities proved better because of which, Jhingada’s extradition to Pakistan was denied. “We provided his identity proofs, criminal cases, history, photographs and fingerprint details after which the Thailand authorities stalled the process of his extradition to Pakistan and sought time to decide on our claims,” the officer said, adding that the Thai authorities would now be communicating with them further to speed up the process. He also added that six non-bailable warrants as well as an Interpol notice had been issued against Jhingada. Another police source said that the Thai government had extradited Yusuf Godhrawala, a Dawood aide and a close associate of Jhingada, to Pakistan this year. “Godhrawala has several offences registered against him in Gujarat. Pakistan had approached the government of Thailand for his extradition as well. Since the states where Godhrawala was wanted couldn’t provide sufficient evidence against him, his custody was handed over to Pakistan,” the source said.