Riyaz Bhatkal shot dead?

Mumbai, January 12,2011 (SamayaLive): Underworld don Chhota Rajan has claimed that terrorist Riyaz Bhatkal has been killed.


According to the underworld don Chhota Rajan, his aides have killed the Indian Mujahideen terrorist, Riyaz Bhatkal.

Rajan said that, Riyazwas shot dead last Thursday the Gulshan Iqbal area of Kareena market in Karachi and he died on the bed No. 18 in Ward No 222, Jiauddin Hospital in Karachi.

An aide of Bhatkal, Anwar was also killed with him. Rajan also claimed that Riyaz Bhatkal was living in Pakistan with the name of Dilawar Iqbal.

Abdul Aziz Bhidani has identified the body of Bhatkal.

Maharashtra ATS chief Rakesh Maria said that the police is investigating claims of Rajan.

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Is Bhatkal dead? (

Mumai, 12 Jan,2011 (MD) :Despite no official confirmation on the killing of IM head Riyaz Bhatkal, sources reveal that Rajan's men may have bumped him off

Who killed Riyaz Bhatkal? Was it gangster Chhota Rajan, or, was the job funnelled to an underworld shooter by Indian intelligence agencies?

Even as questions are being raised whether the Indian intelligence pulled off one of the biggest operations by closing in on India's most wanted terrorist and chief of terror outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM) insiders are divided over who killed him.

Sources said that the agencies could have outsourced the job to Mumbai's underworld shooters.

Though there is no official confirmation yet, sources said that a key member of the Chhota Rajan gang closed in on Bhatkal and opened fire on him.

Another operative, Nissar Anwar, was killed in the shootout near Karina Market in downtown Karachi.

The agencies prefer to remain tight-lipped as the alleged assassins are still holed up in Pakistan. Any disclosures at this juncture could endanger their lives, sources informed.

"They are capable of such strikes," sources said.

ATS chief Rakesh Maria said that he is trying to use his network to get an official confirmation on Bhatkal's death.

Apart from intelligence agencies, Maria and his men had also been trying to close in on Bhatkal after the IM embarked on its killing spree across the country in 2003. Bhatkal and his aides have been named in 19 explosions across the country in the past years.

Rajan's henchmen in Tilak Nagar are rife with the theory that some recruits groomed by his slain shooter Tanasha were weaned away by intelligence agencies, and assigned a very classified secret mission.
The other theory is that Bhatkal had become too big for his boots.

In fact, he had become more dangerous than his mentor in the company of die-hard jihadis, which the D-company boss couldn't allow. Vital details about Bhatkal's whereabouts could have been leaked to the Indian intelligence through indirect sources who then moved in on the kill.

Dawood's treacherous methods have been known to be behind the killing of dozens of his enemies in the past few decades.

"It requires a seasoned gangster to carry out such an operation. Terrorists would rarely suspect a gangster of killing one of them," said a crime branch officer, requesting anonymity.