Dawood Ibrahim's gang killed BJP leaders in Gujarat on order from ISI: NIA

NEW DELHI: Unravelling the terror plot into the murder of two BJP leaders in Gujarat’s Bharuch, the National Investigation Agency said that there was a “larger conspiracy” by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and his gang “to kill selected people.”

The agency which took over the probe from Gujarat police last week made its breakthrough on Tuesday when it arrested the supplier of weapons that was used in the murder of Shirish Bangali, former Bharuch district BJP president and Pragnesh Mistry, general secretary of the Bharuch BJP youth wing.

The accused identified as Nasir Khan Pathan (35), a resident of Surat, is the 12th person arrested. Eleven people alleged part of the conspiracy were arrested by the Gujarat police. NIA said that Pathan has handed over the weapons to Inayat (arrested) subsequently used for the murder. He will be produced before an NIA court in Ahmedabad where the agency will seek his remand.

NIA will also send a mutual legal assistance treaty to United States where the servers of service providers like Google and Yahoo are located. Police said the accused persons communicated through WhatsApp, Facebook and Viber, making it difficult for the agencies to track them.

The initial probe by central agencies and NIA has revealed that D gang member Javed Chikna on the instructions of Chhota Shakeel organised the murders. Government agencies suspect that the underworld under the patronage of Pakistan’s ISI was being used to foment communal tension in the country. Investigations also revealed that the D gang has identified many political leaders on their radar. The modules like the one used in Bharuch was also tasked with the killings.

Gujrat ATS has earlier claimed that Javed Chikna and his younger brother Abid, recently arrested, had agreed to pay Rs 50 lakh for the killings out of which Rs 5 lakh was transferred via hawala route.