Doubling The Deal

The Indian security establishment’s refusal to honour a deal it appeared to have struck with Yakub Memon not only raises some embarrassing questions but is likely to adversely impact several key investigations in future. Obviously there is no record of a deal that the two sides may have struck soon after Yakub’s return to India. But journalists who closely tracked the case for years were always aware of it. The breakthrough that the investigators managed, especially in getting most members of the Memon family back to India from Pakistan, would not have been possible without this deal.

The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the death penalty given to Yakub Memon, one of the conspirators in the 1993 Bombay serial blasts case, has silenced most members of the investigation. Some key members have passed on from the scene. Those who are around refuse to even acknowledge the existence of a deal, especially since it seems to have gone sour. The details of the deal struck by the sleuths—or the reason why it went sour—are difficult to ascertain. More so because Yakub himself has stuck to his commitment and refused to divulge the contours. But several questions still remain unanswered.

The first has to do with Yakub’s arrest in Delhi. According to his wife Raheen, he returned to India in July 1994 to face trial because he was confident he was innocent. But the CBI showed his arrest nine days later, from near New Delhi railway station. What happened during the intervening time is not known. The second question has to do with the return of most of the Memon family members from Pakistan. If Yakub was picked up by the CBI investigators, then the other members of his family are unlikely to have returned to India to face trial on their own! There was a ‘special arrangement’—that’s how it was talked about in those days, the deal that made the Memon family give up their shelter in Karachi to return to India, via Dubai. And much of this would not have been possible if Yakub had not been able to convince them that they would face a fair trial in India.

The return of most members of the Memon family to India was a huge diplomatic coup for New Delhi. Since the serial blasts, it had been smarting under the knowledge that, along with Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon, their other family members were also in Pakistan. Their return to face trial in India allowed South Block to showcase it as a major breakthrough in investigations and helped it send out a strong signal: it’s not as if you can commit grave crimes in India and escape to Pakistan and find yourselves kept there in great comfort and honour.

The decision to hang Yakub may have stemmed from the prevailing political atmosphere in the country. The ruling BJP, cornered on corruption charges, may not like to open yet another front by being seen as going soft on a terror accused. However, the  security establishment’s inability to honour the deal it may have struck with Yakub will seriously erode its credibility. Will people with inside knowledge still come forward to cooperate with Indian investigators to help them crack similar high-profile terrorist acts in future?

Outlook senior editor Pranay Sharma covered the home ministry for The Telegraph, at the time of Yakub Memon’s arrest; E-mail your columnist: pranayda [AT] gmail [DOT] com