India has initiated efforts to extradite don-turned-global-terrorist Dawood Ibrahim's close aide Daud Merchant from Dhaka. Merchant was formally “released” from Dhaka's Keraniganj central jail last Sunday after he completed a 7-year-old jail term.
Bangladesh home minister Asaduzzaman Khan confirmed the release, but did not comment on what the future could be for Merchant in his country or elsewhere. Indian authorities, it is learnt, are in the process of thrashing out certain extradition-protocol related issues over Merchant. So it is not clear as to how fast he can be brought back to India.
Merchant, once close to Dawood, was accused of killing Mumbai-based music baron Gulshan Kumar in August 1997. Kumar was brutally murdered when he emerged from a mandir after offering regular prayers. He was chased through the alleys of Jeet Nagar in western Andheri and then shot at from close range after getting surrounded and cornered by Merchant and his co-shooters. Merchant jumped to overnight fame post the dastardly killing and the way he shepherded it.
Merchant, along with Abu Salem and others, had scripted the murder blueprint of Kumar. India's security establishment has long been eyeing Merchant on account of his proximity to Dawood, Tiger Memon and Dawood's brother Anees. Merchant, however, was away from the D-Company affairs for several years. He was picked up by the Bangladeshi security forces after he was caught with a fake passport of that country in 2009 from the Brahmanbari area. Merchant had sneaked into Bangladesh and sought sanctuary from a “contact” based in India's immediate neighbour.
But questions remain as to whether Merchant would have any intelligence value now. He may have outlived his worth as an “intelligence target.” But the security top-tier led by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, however, wants Merchant to stand trial in India. It is learnt that Merchant could be asked to throw light on the underworld dynamic as it existed back then and the chemistry between the top D-Company criminal leadership.
