Date:12/12/2002 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2002/12/12/stories/2002121204820100.htm

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Dubai asks CBI to send extradition request

By Vinay Kumar

NEW DELHI DEC. 11. The CBI has received a communication from the Dubai police asking it to send its extradition request for the underworld don, Anees Ibrahim, now in police custody in Dubai.

Confirming a fax message in this regard, the CBI Director, P.C. Sharma, today told The Hindu that the extradition request and all relevant documents relating to Anees would be sent to the Dubai authorities expeditiously. The request would be sent to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) through diplomatic channels and all the papers would be translated into Arabic.

As the extradition process was a judicial one, it might take sometime for the UAE to examine the Indian request and let the designated court take a decision.

The request, which would be handed over to the Foreign Office of the UAE by the Indian Ambassador there, would need to go through the Interior Security Ministry, the Attorney-General's office to reach the designated court.

The CBI chief said the India-UAE extradition treaty had provisions that could be helpful in expediting the matter.

Earlier in the day, the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, expressed the hope that the UAE authorities would hand over Anees to India, as he was one of the main accused in the 1993 Bombay serial blasts case.

Citing the cooperation extended by the UAE in the case of deportation of Aftab Ansari earlier this year, Mr. Advani was hopeful that the UAE cooperation this time too would be on the same lines. He said the CBI official and the Indian Ambassador in UAE were "working on this matter.''