Date:21/01/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/01/21/stories/2003012102791200.htm

National

Shetty had Red Corner notice against him

By Vinay Kumar

NEW DELHI JAN. 20. With the gunning down of Sharad Shetty in what looks like to be a gang war spilling on to the streets of Dubai, the powerful D-company of Dawood Ibrahim has suffered a setback. Known to be managing the financial affairs of the D-company in Dubai, Shetty had a Red Corner notice of Interpol pending against him.

Also known as Anna Shetty, he was wanted by the Mumbai Police for murder, criminal conspiracy and possession of firearms. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), representing Interpol-India, had got the notice issued against him in July 2002. The notice mentioned that he was likely to be living in the United Arab Emirates and had criminal links with Dawood Ibrahim and Chhotta Shakeel. Both Dawood Ibrahim and Chhotta Shakeel also have Red Corner notices pending against them, issued in the wake of the March 1993 Bombay serial blasts. According to the notice, Sharad Shetty(44) was suspected to have ordered the killing of a Bombay hotelier on June 15, 1995.

Sources in the agency believe that Shetty's killing was carried out at the behest of the Chhotta Rajan gang. It was widely suspected that Shetty was behind the attack on Chhotta Rajan in a Bangkok hospital in September 2000. Though Rajan had managed to escape and later shifted to an unknown destination in Europe, his gang had cried foul and vowed to take revenge. The Rajan gang had recently killed Vinod Shetty near Mumbai as it suspected him of having tipped off Sharad Shetty of Chhotta Rajan's whereabouts in Bangkok. Once a close associated of Dawood Ibrahim, Chhotta Rajan had fallen out with him after the Bombay serial blasts which killed nearly 300 people.

The killing of Shetty would put the law enforcing agencies in the UAE under pressure to act tough against organised gangs. It may be pointed out that Anees Ibrahim, younger brother of Dawood Ibrahim, who was also wanted in the Bombay blasts case, had managed to slip out from Dubai recently despite India's request for his deportation. After informing the CBI that Anees had been detained, there had not been any official information on his whereabouts and it was believed that Pakistani intelligence agencies had managed to whisk him away to Pakistan where Dawood Ibrahim and his other associates are believed to be based.

The Red Corner notice against Shetty appears to be rather sketchy so far as details like the names of his parents, place of his birth, passport number, accomplices and distinguishing marks are concerned. Sources said that Shetty had escaped to Dubai in 1987 but was in control of the extortion racket on behalf of Dawood Ibrahim's gang mainly pertaining to the hotel industry. His business interests in Dubai included two hotels.