Dawood kin8217;s passport: MEA role bared

NEW DELHI, Nov 22: The CBI raid last evening at the passport office here did not lead the investigators to the missing'' file containing d...

NEW DELHI, Nov 22: The CBI raid last evening at the passport office here did not lead the investigators to the 8220;missing8221; file containing details of the hurried issuance of passport to Dawood Ibrahim8217;s mother Ameena Bi in June 1993, but the investigating officers have obtained evidence pointing to the involvement of the Ministry of External Affairs in the matter.

Ashok Mukherjee, the Officer on Special Duty OSD to the then Minister of State for External Affairs Salman Khurshid, will be interrogated shortly in this connection, it is learnt. Currently, Mukherjee is India8217;s counsel general in Dubai, a posting he got recently after the BJP formed the Government at the Centre.

Sources say that following the written recommendation dispatched from Mukherjee8217;s office to the passport office, the routine but important police verification of the applicant was waived, as were several other conditions that are mandatory in normal course. She was issued the passport in a day.Both Salman Khurshid and R L Bhatia wereMinisters of State in the External Affairs Ministry when Ameena Bi flew to Dubai, barely a month after the serial bomb blasts rocked Mumbai. Khurshid, at that time, had exclusive charge of the Middle-East countries.

While the search for the missing Ameena Bi file is still on the passport office had reportedly sent it, rather hurriedly to the MEA some time ago the investigators have started questioning a number of passport officers.Also, a fresh probe has begun to ascertain the role of a leading industrialist who allegedly provided shelter to Ameena Bi at his south Delhi bungalow at Sharma8217;s behest. He was recently interrogated in detail, but officials do not rule out questioning him yet again.

As the evidence already collected by the investigators suggest, securing necessary travel documents from the passport office for himself and his associates was easy for Romesh Sharma. For four consecutive years from 1993 to 1996, Sharma and his associates reached Dubai to attend Dawood8217;s birthday on December25, but none from the Ministry 8212; or for that matter any investigating agency 8212; bothered to make a check.

The special team probing the Sharma case have gathered material which shows that he was not a mere close associate of Dawood. The set-up, it is believed, was used in pushing drugs to the Middle-East via Pakistan.