Dawood Ibrahim, head of the organised crime syndicate D-Company, qualifies as India’s public enemy No. 1 now. His one time ally, Chhota Rajan, now his enemy, is just about to set foot in this country again after having been nabbed by the Indonesian police who were acting on a tip-off from Australian intelligence. But the point to ponder is whether India’s obsession with Dawood Ibrahim is ever likely to fetch tangible results so far as controlling crime in the country is concerned.
This national fervour for Dawood’s “ghar wapsi” can be a futile exercise as Pakistan is not going to give him up. After all, Pakistan’s dubious track record was exposed in the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani garrison town. In such an event, it should hardly matter where Dawood is resident at the moment — in Karachi or on the Af-Pak frontier. The point is India has much to do in Chhota Rajan’s interrogation as information gained from the mob head who operated freely in Mumbai’s underworld in the 1990s could be useful in cracking crime syndicates. Gangs are still running hawala operations, betting rackets, smuggling gold and are involved in illegal film duplication, all activities that fund terrorism. Getting serious about tackling crime is a far greater priority than harping on the return of Dawood Ibrahim.
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