Prior to his killing in a staged encounter, Sadik Jamal was given a clean chit by Mumbai’s Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIB), which concluded that he was not on a mission to kill any right-wing Hindu leader or VVIP. This was stated by an SIB official during investigation conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the case.
The Gujarat police had allegedly killed Jamal in a staged encounter on the intervening night of January 12 and 13, 2003, by projecting him as a member of the banned terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba, who was on a mission to eliminate Hindu leaders including chief minister Narendra Modi. The police had also cited intelligence inputs to corroborate their claims that Sadik was a member of the terrorist outfit.
According to Ambady Gopinathan, former assistant director of SIB, “there was no substance in the input that Sadik had intention to cause any harm to VVIPs as alleged in the initial source report.”
Sadik was apprehended in a joint operation conducted by officials of the SIB and Crime Investigation Unit of Mumbai in December 2002 and subjected to interrogation. Subsequently, Gujarat police took his custody on January 3, 2003.
Gopinathan stated that SIB official Gururaj Sadavatti had submitted a report that Sadik Jamal, a member of the D-gang, had arrived from Dubai with the intention to kill right-wing Hindu leaders and had left for Ahmedabad to survey some targets. Upon receiving Sadavatti’s inputs, officials had apprehended Jamal for verification.
The CBI may take the statement of Sadavatti about the source of his information about Sadik’s cause for arrival in India. Meanwhile, Asif Mubarak had given a statement before the CBI that Jamal returned to Mumbai after a scuffle with Dawood’s strongman Salim Chiplun in Dubai. Asif was working with Tariq Parveen, an alleged aide of Dawood Ibrahim, and according to CBI, Jamal was working as house-help at Tariq’s places in Mumbai and Dubai.
According to Asif, Sadik had an altercation with Salim Chiplun about some matter and he rushed to Dubai police. He was then deported to India sometime in 2002. It is to be noted that Chiplun is a close aide of Dawood and his name had emerged earlier in a couple of serious crime cases in Mumbai.
