Tip-off on Parliament attack went unheeded: Former Delhi police commissioner Neeraj Kumar

NEW DELHI: In a startling revelation, former Delhi police commissioner Neeraj Kumar, who probed the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts while in CBI, has written in his book that “part of the funding for 911 attacks in the US had originated from India“. Kumar has also written that Rajkot police had alerted agencies then about the 2001 Parliament attack but the input was not taken seriously.

The 1976 batch IPS officer, who played a key role in the capture of terrorist Aftab Ansari, bringing Yakub Memon and his family back from Pakistan etc, has claimed in his book `Dial D for Don' that a part of the funds for 911 attacks were raised from a kidnapping and handed over to the chief of the attackers, Mohammad Atta, by terrorist Omar Sheikh. Sheikh was released by India in exchange for hijacked passengers of an Indian Airlines plane in 1999.

Neeraj Kumar, presently heading the anti-corruption wing of BCCI, has cited the information obtained from Harkat-ul-Mujahideen terrorist Asif Reza Khan in this respect. He has dedicated a chapter “Gifts from the Gulf ­ Rise and fall of Aftab Ansari“, in which he talks about the operation leading to An sari's arrest.

“His (Asif) boss Aftab An sari had shared the ransom money collected in the Burman kidnapping case with Omar Sheikh--one of the three terrorists who had been flown out of jail on 31 December 1999 when India had to trade them for securi ng the safe release and re turn of Indian Airlines flight 814 passengers held hostage in Kandahar,“ Kumar says. He further writes, “...Sheikh was subsequently involved in the killing of journalist Daniel Pearl, then with the Wall Street Journal.Part of the ransom money received in the Burman kidnapping--about $100,000 (at the time Rs 48 lakh)--had later found its way from Omar Sheikh to Mohammad Atta, chief of the 911 attackers.“

Ansari was the brain behind kidnapping of Partha Pratim Roy Burman, chairman­cum­managing director of Khadim Shoes in July 2001 in Kolkata. “Asif Reza Khan further disclosed to us that both Aftab Ansari and Asif himself had jihadi proclivities. They had visited Lashkar headquarters in Bahawalpur, Pakistan. Aftab had even met Azam Cheema, the launching commander of LeT for India, in February 2000,“ writes Kumar.

On 7 December 2001, Asif Reza Khan was killed in an encounter with the Rajkot police when he tried to escape.Further, Asif had overheard some trainees in a Pakistan camp talk about an attack on the Indian Parliament.

Asif had confessed that he had committed a number of sensational crimes in the company of gangster-terrorist Aftab Ansari, Amir Raza Khan (Asif 's younger brother) and other gang members, including Harpreet Singh a.k.a Happy of Delhi.