Kandahar Hijack: Was Balasaheb the target of terrorists, how did Mumbai Police solve the kidnapping case?

The Indian Express has carried a report from the upcoming book 'Brahmastra' by retired Maharashtra DGP D. Sivanandan, which states that due to the tip-off received from Hemant Karkare, the police suspected currency exchange in the hotel. When some arrests were made in this case, the whole matter came to light. D. Sivanandan was leading this operation. According to the excerpt from the book published in the Express- 'On 24 December 1999, Indian Airlines flight IC814 from Kathmandu to New Delhi was hijacked just 30 minutes after takeoff from Kathmandu Airport in Nepal. As soon as the authorities came to know about the hijacking, a high alert was issued across the country. At that time I was posted as Joint Commissioner of Police in Mumbai Police and was the head of Mumbai Crime Branch. I was informed about this incident by my boss and Mumbai Police Commissioner RH Mendonca and asked to put the entire Crime Branch on high alert. We were all watching this incident with bated breath.'

Was Balasaheb Thackeray the target?

After the incident, Mumbai Police and Crime Branch became very active. After the raid, the police also recovered the map of Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray's house 'Matoshree', from where the terrorists were arrested. In his book, he says- 'The raid was carried out so meticulously that the terrorists did not get even a moment to react. The entire team attacked them like an eagle attacks its prey and in a short time the terrorists were overpowered and arrested.'

One in five terrorists is a Hindu

According to the book, the five terrorists arrested by the police have been identified as Rafiq Mohammed (age 34), Abdul Latif Adani Patel (age 34), Mustaq Ahmed Azmi (age 45), Mohammad Asif alias Bablu (age 25), Gopal Singh Bahadur Maan (age 38). That is, one terrorist was a Hindu. A huge amount of arms and ammunition including two AK-56 assault rifles, five hand grenades, anti-tank TNT rocket launcher, shells and three detonators and explosives, six pistols, a large stock of ammunition and Rs 1,72,000 in cash were recovered from the room. The terrorists intended to blow up Mumbai.

This is how the whole matter was revealed

According to the excerpt published in the book, 'The day after the kidnapping was Christmas Day, December 25, I was in my office located at the Mumbai Police Headquarters in Crawford Market, when an unknown guest came to me at around 11 am. It was Maharashtra cadre IPS officer Hemant Karkare, who was then posted in the Mumbai office of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). I immediately understood that this was a special meeting. Hemant Karkare told me that RAW has acquired a phone number which is in Mumbai and is in constant contact with a phone number in Pakistan. After this, work started by forming teams.

'The caller was a Jaish terrorist'

The mobile number was put on surveillance. On 28 December 1999, at around 6 pm, a ray of hope arose. The team found that a caller from Mumbai called his handler in Pakistan and told him that he was running out of money and needed money urgently. The caller was a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist from Pakistan. The Jaish terrorist told his partner in Mumbai that they had arranged Rs 1 lakh which would be sent through hawala. The police found the Basheerbagh area where the terrorists were hiding.