American Center attack mastermind Aftab Ansari had sent messages to associates in Dubai last month from his cell in Presidency jail about “eliminating” six police officers. According to Metro sources, those on the hitlist are two assistant commissioners of Delhi Police, one sub-inspector of the Mumbai Police crime branch, a deputy commissioner of Rajkot, an inspector of the Calcutta Police detective department and a deputy commissioner currently posted in Calcutta Police.
Sources said he had issued instructions to Amir Reza Khan and some other contacts and relatives in Dubai to organise and carry out operations against the targeted officers. This disclosure came to light while deputy commissioner (central) Zulfiquar Hasan and his men were tapping Ansari’s conversations over the cellphone from jail. Hasan and his men were tipped off that Ansari was planning to flee jail.
The conversations were taped for over a month, sources said. The tapes have been passed on to senior city branch officials of the Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIB). Ansari’s cellmate Gabbar had passed on the mobile phone to him, police added.
Officers connected with the investigations said Ansari has his reasons to draw up the hitlist. He wants to avenge the death of a close aide at the hands of two assistant commissioners of Delhi Police in an encounter in Hazaribagh, they said. “The information is correct, but officers are not cowed down by the threats,” said assistant commissioner Ravi Shankar of Delhi Police. Ansari, facing charges in Delhi,was shifted there from Presidency jail in Calcutta five days ago.
Quoting from his taped conversations, sources said Ansari has targeted an inspector of the detective department here for “stabbing him in the back.’’ Ansari had reportedly told one of his aides during a cellphone talk that the inspector concerned had taken money and promised to help him obtain bail. But the bail did not come through and Ansari felt cheated.
He is angry with a city police officer, formerly with the CID, for cracking down on his gang after Khadim’s vice-chairman Parthapratim Roy Burman was kidnapped. The officer arrested Ansari’s associates and, ultimately, zeroed in on him.
A Mumbai crime branch sub-inspector and a Rajkot officer are blamed for the death of his “closest friend”, Asif Reza Khan. “They killed him in cold blood in Rajkot and we should avenge it,’’ Ansari reportedly told aide Amir Reza Khan on the phone.
From Mumbai, crime branch sub-inspector Daya Nayak said: “We are on our guard but it is not easy to kill police officers.”
