IC-814 hijacking case: Top IB & CBI sleuths to verify if it's Rauf

NEW DELHI: Top sleuths from CBI and IB will travel to Santiago on Wednesday to verify whether the person caught by Chilean police is Abdul Rauf, wanted in the IC-814 hijacking case. The investigation team comprise Joginder Nayak, an SP rank officer with the CBI and Mahesh Dixit, Deputy Inspector General with the IB.

Rauf was arrested in a case of fake visa in January and during investigations, Chilean police found that Interpol had issued a notice against a person named Abdul Rauf, who was involved in the hijacking of Indian Airlines' IC-814 in 1999.

Rauf is brother-in-law of Jaish-e-Mohammad leader Masood Azhar, the dreaded terrorist who was released by the NDA government as part of the deal struck with the hijackers.

The Indian Airlines aircraft with 174 passengers and a 11-member crew on a flight from Kathmandu to Delhi was hijacked on December 24, 1999, while it was flying over Lucknow. The hijacked plane first landed in Amritsar before flying to Lahore and later to Al-Minhat air force base in Abu Dhabi before heading towards Kandahar International Airport the next day. The crisis ended on December 31.

The five Pakistani hijackers were identified as Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim and Shakir.

They succeeded in their plans and secured the release of Maulana Masood Azhar, Sheikh Omar and Mushtaq Zargar in exchange for the 158 people. One passenger Rupin Katyal was killed by the hijackers and his body was handed over at the Abu Dhabi air base.