No extradition request with MEA for Dawood, Hafiz Saeed

The Ministry of External Affairs has said it has not received any request so far for extradition of 26/11 Mumbai attacks’ mastermind Hafiz Saeed and 1993 Mumbai bombings’ accused Dawood Ibrahim from the agencies probing them.

The Ministry was responding to an RTI query filed by a PTI Bhasha correspondent seeking information on the action taken by the government for bringing back Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Saeed and fugitive gangster Ibrahim.

"The Ministry of External Affairs has not received any request for extradition/deportation/return in respect of Hafiz Sayeed and Dawood Ibrahim from the investigating agencies concerned in India," it said.

Ibrahim is the main accused in the 1993 serial bomb blasts case in Mumbai in which around 260 people were killed, and more than 700 were injured. He fled the country post the bombings and is understood to be hiding in Pakistan at present.

Saeed, also the co-founder of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e- Taiba terror group, is accused of plotting the militant attack in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, in which 166 people were killed by a group of terrorists who had entered the city through a sea route.

In April, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had stated that there was no doubt that Dawood was still in Pakistan. During the last 10 years, India has sent several dossiers to Pakistan in this regard, saying Ibrahim is the key accused in the serial bomb blasts case.

In 2011, P Chidambaram, the then home minister in the UPA government, had stated that Ibrahim was based in Karachi.

He had also said that India would continue to push its case to bring to justice the people who had planned the 2008 attack.

India has for long been advocating an extradition treaty among South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries to ensure quick action against those involved in terrorist activities.