Mehrajuddin Dand, Kandahar hijack suspect, arrested in Jammu and Kashmir

Srinagar: Thirteen years after the audacious Kandahar IC-814 hijack, a man suspected to have provided logistical support for it, Mehrajuddin Dand, has been arrested in Kishtwar, Jammu and Kashmir. The militant, the J&K Police say, is a major catch; he had been operating for the last 20 years.

There are very few details of the arrest available yet as the police double-check that the man they have arrested is indeed Dand. He goes by the alias Javed and is also alleged to have been involved in several blasts across the country. He had been living in Nepal for many years now, the police said, and had married a Hindu girl there.

The police claim that Dand provided fake travel documents to the five Pakistani men who hijacked the Indian Airlines flight IC-814 on December 24, 1999. The plane, with mostly Indians on board, had taken off from Nepal that Christmas Eve evening and just as it entered Indian airspace, the gunmen hijacked the flight to Kandahar in Afghanistan after fueling stops at Amritsar and Lahore in Pakistan and a stop at Dubai were they freed some passengers. The hijackers killed one man in the seven-day stand-off that ended controversially with the Indian government releasing three notorious terrorist leaders for the safe return of the rest of the passengers. Among those freed by India were Maulana Masood Azhar who later founded the Jaish-e-Mohammad and Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who is accused of later killing American journalist Daniel Pearl.

The police say Dand is suspected to be a key man of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and an important fund raiser for terror activities. He is believed to have been among the first group of Hizbul Mujahideen that crossed over into Pakistan for training and is said to be the longest surviving militant in the state. Dand is also believed to have been a key lieutenant of Hizbul chief  Syed Salahuddin for many years before becoming an independent operative who coordinated between various terror groups, the police said.

Senior cop freed after being held hostage by suspended constable in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: A four-hour-long 'hostage' drama ended late on Wednesday as a suspended head constable, who had taken a senior police official hostage, released him unharmed.

Giriprasad Sharma, a suspended head constable with the Police Transport Organisation, released Superintendent of Police (SP) Lakshminarayana from a shop near Birla Planetarium in the heart of the city.

The high drama ended around 11:15 pm after Director General of Police (DGP) Dinesh Reddy reportedly spoke to Mr Sharma over his mobile phone and promised to look into his demands.

Police shifted Mr Lakshminarayana to a hospital and took Mr Sharma into custody.

Mr Sharma's demands included suspension of Additional Superintendent of Police Vijaykumar, who was allegedly harassing him and was responsible for suspending him, allocation of Rs.100 crore to Police Transport Organisation and recruitment of 500 mechanics and drivers in the organization.

It was in the evening that Mr Sharma took the official hostage in a shop and sent a message from his mobile phone to some television channels around 7:30 pm.

He had locked the shutters from inside and threatened to kill the official and commit suicide if police tried to break in. He claimed that he was carrying 40 litres of petrol with him.

As the senior police officials along with a fire engine and fire fighting personnel surrounded the shop, Mr Sharma sent out a printed message, listing his demands. He wanted either the Home Minister or DGP to respond.

Mr Sharma relented after the DGP intervened and assured him that his demands would be considered.

The incident triggered panic in the police establishment and caused embarrassment to the top brass as the scene of crime is close to the state police headquarters.

Earlier, Andhra Pradesh Home Minister P. Sabita Indra Reddy had appealed to the head constable to release the official and promised to take action against the Additional Superintendent of Police.

It was not immediately known why the SP had gone to a shop reportedly belonging to the head constable.

From: NDTV