Mumbai: A Thailand court will hear India’s plea seeking extradition of fugitive gangster and Dawood Ibrahim’s aide Sayyad Muzakkir Mudassar Hussain alias Munna Jhingada in December. The court is likely to give its final decision in December, according to sources in the Mumbai police. Tasked by Dawood’s top aide Chhota Shakeel, Jhingada and a few others had made an abortive bid in September 2000 in Bangkok on the life of gangster Chhota Rajan.
Rajan was deported to India from Indonesia in November 2015 after which he has been lodged in Delhi’s high-security Tihar prison.
The latest hearing took place on October 21. The Thai court turned down an exhaustive list of 41 witnesses put up by Pakistan ahead of announcing the next date of hearing, police sources revealed. The development is seen positively in India.
A tug of war erupted between India and Pakistan after Jhingada was arrested in 2002 in connection with the attack on Rajan. The Thai police arrested Jhingada possessing a Pakistani passport in the name of Mohammad Salim.
Over the period, the Thai court has heard the legal arguments of both India and Pakistan with the Mumbai crime branch’s senior officers, including a deputy commissioner of police, deposing before the Thai court
“One of the important things to unfold during the past couple of hearings was that the Thai court turning down the list of 41 witnesses put up by Pakistan. Pakistan sought permission for their deposition to strengthen their lie in the court of law,” said a crime branch officer requesting anonymity.
The case gathered steam in 2014 after the Mumbai police succeeded in collecting DNA samples of Jhingada’s parents and his sister that were later sent to Thailand. The Mumbai police also submitted the fingerprints of the fugitive gangster, collected following his arrest in a case, to the Thai court.
