New Delhi, Sep 23 (IANS): The Congress on Saturday said the Narendra Modi government should explain how absconding don Dawood Ibrahim's wife managed to visit Mumbai last year undetected and added that it raises questions about the credibility of the Centre and the Maharashtra government as well as the state and central security agencies.
"Wife of Ibrahim, Mehajabin Shaikh came to meet her father in 2016 in Mumbai and the Modi government kept on sleeping," Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said in a video message.
Surjewala's remarks came a day after the arrested brother of Dawood, Iqbal Ibrahim Kaskar told investigators that his sister-in-law, Mehjabin Shaikh (Dawood's wife) visited Mumbai sometime in 2016 to meet her father, Salim Kashmiri, before quietly departing.
"Indian National Congress demands that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh apprise the nation about the national security failure and circumstances in which wife of a dreaded terrorist entered and left India with complete ease, without being questioned or detained," Surjewala said.
"Let the PM state as to what responsibility has been fixed and what action would be taken," he added.
Targeting the investigative agencies of the government, Surjewala questioned: "What was CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) doing? What was Research and Analysis Wing (RA&W) doing?"
Slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, the Congress leader said: "Wife of a terrorist, who is wanted in many terror cases arrives in India to meet her father and then goes back."
"Why she was not arrested? Why no action was taken against her?" he asked.
He also said that this shocking revelation was made by Mumbai's Thane police.
Surjewala also said that the name of various BJP leaders had cropped up linked to Dawood.
"It is also intriguing as to how names of various BJP leaders have cropped up whenever there were questions about links to Dawood Ibrahim. Maharashtra BJP Minister, Eknath Khadse had to resign when there were allegations of his telephonic conversations with Dawood Ibrahim," he said.
"Entire country witnessed when several BJP Ministers and leaders of the Devendra Fadnavis Government recently attended a wedding of Dawood Ibrahim's relatives," he added.
Iqbal was arrested early on Tuesday by a crack team of the Thane Anti-Extortion Cell headed by former encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma who picked him up from his Mumbai home late on Monday night in an extortion case.
Congress Rajya Sabha leader Rajiv Shukla termed the matter as very serious and said that it raises questions about the credibility of the central and state governments as well as the central investigative agencies.
"...What was Mumbai Police doing? What were the central and Maharashtra government doing? What were the other agencies doing?" he questioned.
"It is a very serious issue. It is like 'diya tale andhera' (darkness under a lamp -- or something taking place right under your nose). The state government, Mumbai Police and all the central agencies should answer how it happened, as it raises questions on their credibility," he added.