The Maharashtra Police and central intelligence agencies reportedly fear a terror attack in India as Mushtaq 'Tiger' Memon, one of the masterminds of the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, has promised his family that he will avenge the death of his younger brother Yakub Memon, who was executed on 30 July.
The Mumbai Police reportedly intercepted a telephonic conversation between the Memon family in Mahim, Mumbai, and one "bhaijan", who was later identified as Tiger. The elder Memon sibling had fled India before the 1993 bombings and is said to be hiding in Pakistan ever since.
The Mumbai Police, however, denied monitoring the calls of the Memons. "As a daily has reported that fugitive accused Tiger Memon indicated to his family members that he will take revenge and the daily has transcript of that communication, we want to clarify that we don't have any such intercepted conversation and we also clarify that such a said transcript is not from the Mumbai Police," NDTV quoted Mumbai Police spokesperson Dhananjay Kulkarni as saying.
Tiger's purported call to family in Mahim
Tiger had called up his family at 5.35 am the day Yakub was hanged. During the telephonic conversation, Tiger vowed to avenge the hanging of his younger brother. His mother Hanifa, who was initially reluctant to talk to Tiger, asked him to end the violence that resulted in the death of her younger son, reported The Economic Times, which claimed to have access to the transcript of the conversation.
"Zulm ki inteha ho gayi. Zaya nahi jayega... sabke ansoo zaya nahi jayenge... Main unko chukwaonga (This is the height of injustice, this will not go waste.. No one's tears will go waste... I will make them pay)," Tiger reportedly told his mother.
"Bas ho gaya. Pehle ke vajah se mera Yakub gaya ab aur nahi main dekh sakti (Stop this, due to the first incident, I have lost Yakub. Now I can't bear to see any more people dying)," the distraught mother said.
However, Tiger seems to have ignored his mother's plea as he reiterates that he will avenge Yakub's hanging. "Tum ro mat ammi. Iska inko izafa dena hoga. (Don't cry mother. They will have to pay for this)," he told his mother.
Tiger spoke with another member of the Memon family as well. The Mumbai Police said that he used voice over internet protocol (VOIP) facilities to call his family members in Mahim, Mumbai. The police, however, failed to detect the internet protocol (IP) address as the source of the call kept "bouncing" from one IP address to another throughout the three-minute conversation.
The Maharashtra government now feels that the country faces an "imminent threat".
"Even before Yakub's hanging, we knew there would be repercussions. But after the phone call, there is an imminent threat. There will be a terror attack either in the state or in some other part of the country," an official told ET.
Yakub was hanged shortly before 7 am on 30 July. He was convicted of financing the 13 serial blasts in Mumbai on 12 March, 1993. At least 257 people were killed and hundreds of others were injured in the blasts.
Following Yakub's execution, Dawood Ibrahim's close aide Chhota Shakeel had also threatened the Indian government of consequences for "killing an innocent man".
