The Delhi police have arrested three aides of infamous gangster Dawood Ibrahim.
The trio reportedly planned to kill Wasim Rizvi, the chairperson of the Shia Waqf Board in Uttar Pradesh, at the behest of the gangster, reported ANI.
Three people arrested on charges of conspiring to kill Shia Waqf Board Chairman Wasim Rizvi on behest of Dawood Ibrahim: DCP Special Cell #Delhi
— ANI (@ANI) April 13, 2018
The suspected aides of Dawood planned to kill Rizvi and spread communal disharmony in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
The arrest comes after Rizvi is known to have received a death threat call in January. The caller, also suspected to be a member of Dawood's D-Company, reportedly said that Rizvi and his family would be killed if he did not retract his statements on madrasa. The caller had also demanded that Rizvi's apology to Muslim Ulemas.
Rizvi had written a letter to PM Narendra Modi and UP CM Yogi Adityanath, in which he had suggested that all madrasas in the state be closed and transformed into secular schools under the general education system. He had said that these madrasas "churn out terrorists."
Madrasas should be affiliated to CBSE,ICSE, and allow non-Muslim students, religious education should be made optional. Have written to PM and UP CM in this regard.It will make our country even stronger: Wasim Rizvi,Shia Central Waqf Board pic.twitter.com/eJUINw7CiK
— ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2018
After receiving the threat call, the chairman of the Shia Waqf Board had filed a complaint with the police and also submitted his call records, according to DNA.
Rizvi has, in the past, made quite a few statements that have not gone down well with several fringe groups. In March, he wrote to Congress president Rahul Gandhi and urged him to support the government on the construction of Ram Temple at the disputed land in Ayodhya.
"Rahul Gandhi should prove the love for his country and love for God and the Congress should support the Indian government to build the temple of Lord Ram at his birthplace (said to be in Ayodhya) and Masjid-e-Aman be constructed in Lucknow," Rizvi had said in the letter, according to the daily.
He even lashed out at groups who were against the construction of the Ram Temple, saying that such groups should go to Pakistan. "Those who want to spread Jihad in the name of the mosque must go and join the forces of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the ISIS chief."
While the aides have been arrested for plotting to kill Rizvi, it was earlier also reported that Dawood may be planning to eliminate Chhota Rajan in Tihar Jail and has sought Delhi gangster Neeraj Bawana's help for the same.
Intelligence official shared this information with the Tihar Jail officials December 2017, after which Rajan's security in the jail had been beefed up. The inputs also said that Dawood's plan came to light after Bawana's aides were heard boasting about the plot when they were drunk, reported the Times of India.
The aide had reportedly come out of jail on bail and "drunk-dialed" another gangster to speak of the plot and said there were "big-tasks" ahead. "The gist of the conversation was that Bawana may have been contacted by a conduit set up by D company to outsource the killing of their most sought after target for the past two decades," the source, who is said to have heard the conversation, explained.
