Daud Merchant lands in Indian jail after deportation

Abdur Rauf Daud Merchant was sent to jail today by an Indian court in Mumbai soon after his deportation to the neighbouring country from Bangladesh.

Merchant was handed over to BSF along Bangladesh's border with the northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

After that, he was handed over to a team of Mumbai Police crime branch  which took him to Mumbai from Guwahati airport late on Wednesday night, a senior Crime Branch official said.

Abdur Rauf Daud Merchant is a fugitive in India convicted in 1997 murder of Bollywood music baron Gulshan Kumar.

"BSF contacted us on Merchant and a team of Crime Branch was sent which arrested him as he was a convict in our case. On the direction of the High Court, we produced him before the Sessions Court which sent him to high-security Arthur Road jail," Mumbai Police Joint Commissioner (Crime Branch) Sanjay Saxena said.

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However, according to the official, Mumbai Police might move the court to seek Merchant's custody for interrogating him about his whereabouts and activities since he jumped parole in 2009 and escaped. 

Merchant was convicted in the 1997 murder of Gulshan Kumar — and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2002. He had jumped parole in 2009 and absconded after he was allowed to meet his family.

While the deportation of Merchant, a close aide of underworld don Daud Ibrahim, was conducted in close co-ordination between the authorities of India and Bangladesh with assistance from the Interpol, it is being officially said that Merchant was detained by BSF when he was trying to return to India.

"A four-member team of the Mumbai Crime Branch left for Meghalaya after Bangladeshi authorities informed us about Merchant's release from a jail there. There was close coordination between the Interpols of both the countries," said a Mumbai police officer.

Saxena said, "it is for the court to decide whether Merchant could be handed over to police even as he completes his sentence."

Mumbai Police hoped to get some key details regarding Dawood's aides as Merchant had met them in Dubai a few years ago. He was expected to know "several intricate details" pertaining to the gang and its activities, Saxena said.