Doval vs Don: When Real-Life ‘Dhurandhar’ Almost Eliminated Dawood Ibrahim - Throwback

The Ranveer Singh-starrer Dhurandhar has brought the spotlight on Indian spies and their daring operations, and it is impossible to move ahead without mentioning a story or two from India’s own "James Bond", Ajit Doval. Not many people know that Doval was once very close to eliminating underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. However, a botched operation and a lack of communication with the Mumbai Police led to the failure of what could have been one of the greatest successes in the history of India’s covert missions.The plan was initiated in 2005, with Ajit Doval, who had retired as Director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) in January that year, playing a key role in the operation. According to the plan, Dawood was to be eliminated in Dubai, where he was expected

to attend his daughter Mahrukh’s wedding to Junaid Miandad, the son of Pakistani cricketer Javed Miandad. As soon as the intelligence agencies and Doval received this information, a plan was drawn up to eliminate the don in Dubai. As part of the plan, the agencies contacted Chota Rajan to execute the operation. The entire operation was being led by Ajit Doval himself.Also Read: The Inside Story Of Botched 2005 Op To Execute Dawood In Ex-IPS Officer's WordsRajan called two of his most trusted men to carry out the task - Vicky Malhotra and Farid Tanasha. However, the duo was also on the radar of the Mumbai Police, and when authorities received a tip-off about their presence in the city, a team under Deputy Commissioner of Police Dhananjay Kamlakar was dispatched to Delhi to arrest them.

In a bizarre end to the operation, the Mumbai Police raided the hotel where the two men were being briefed by Doval. Their arrest forced Doval to abort the mission entirely.In an interview with Mumbai Tak, former Indian Police Service officer, Meera Borwankar, described the episode as a “simple case of a lack of coordination between both agencies,” saying it was “completely wrong to accuse the Mumbai Police of working for Dawood Ibrahim.”Recounting the events, Borwankar said the episode dates back to 2005, when Mumbai was witnessing a surge in underworld-linked extortion calls to top businessmen. “We kept intercepting criminal phone calls. This happened in 2005. At that time, in Mumbai, top businessmen were receiving extortion calls from the underworld, and the environment was not good,” she said.She explained that the interceptions were part of an operation known as Project X. “We intercepted calls, and the operation was termed as project X. We intercepted this call and found Vicky Malhotra, and he was speaking to someone on the phone calling him ‘sir,’” Borwankar said.She added that the identity of the person referred to as “sir” was initially unclear. “The voice of ‘sir’ was very different, and no one in our department could identify who the ‘sir’ was,” she said.Borwankar said teams were first dispatched to Kolkata and later to Delhi to arrest Vicky Malhotra and Farid Tanasha. “Inspector Patil was there in Delhi, and he was taking commands directly from me as DCP Dhananjay Kamlakar missed his flight,” she said.Describing the confrontation, she added, “Inspector Patil confronted Vicky Malhotra and another person who called himself an ex-joint director of IB. He called up the Delhi Police control room and the news was spread in the media as well.”The episode has been detailed by Meera Borwankar in her book Madam Commissioner, in a chapter titled ‘Extortion Calls and Two and a Half Arrests'.