How Mumbai cops cracked IC 814 Kandahar hijack case: A riveting personal account

On December 24, 1999, flight IC814, en route from Nepal's Kathmandu to New Delhi, was hijacked by five heavily armed terrorists just 30 minutes after it took off.

The 1999 hijacking incident of the Indian Airlines flight IC 814 had a link with Pakistan and Matoshree, the residence of Late Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray, said former top officer D Sivanandhan.

The incident has garnered nationwide attention again after the release of the Netflix web series "IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack". The series courted controversy for not revealing the actual name of the terrorists. However, the showmakers have added a disclaimer after the Centre summoned the Netflix India content head.

In an article for The Indian Express, Sivanandhan recounted how the arrest of five terrorists from a small chawl in Basheerbagh, West Mumbai's Jogeshwari, was pivotal in solving the case.

On December 24, 1999, flight IC814, en route from Nepal's Kathmandu to New Delhi, was hijacked by five heavily armed terrorists just 30 minutes after it took off. The hijackers released the passengers and crew of the plane after 7 days when India agreed to free three dreaded terrorists.

Sivanandhan said that a day after the hijacking, Hemant Karkare, an IPS officer from Maharashtra Cadre, came to meet him. “Hemant Karkare informed me that Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) had procured a phone number which was in Mumbai and in constant touch with a phone number in Pakistan. He handed me the phone number and I immediately got down to work ...” Sivanandhan wrote in Indian Express.

Police in action

Immediately, teams were formed and assigned duties. While one team was dispatched to the mobile service provider to get the caller details, another was asked to place the mobile number under surveillance. The other teams were directed to locate the caller. Sivanandhan said one of the teams found out that the number was being used between Juhu and Malad.

Ultimately, on December 28, 1999, the surveillance team got an alert that the phone was active. “The Mumbai-based caller had called his handler in Pakistan and told him that he was running low on cash and needed money urgently. The caller on the other end told him to wait for 30 minutes, he will make arrangements and call back. The call finally came around 6.45 pm,” he said.

What did the caller say?

The caller, who was a Pakistan-based terrorist, asked the person in Mumbai about his whereabouts. The person in Mumbai did not provide exact information regarding his location. “He gave a vague answer of him being somewhere in Jogeshwari (East), a suburb in the North-West area of Mumbai. The terrorist then informed his colleague in Mumbai that they had managed to arrange Rs 1 lakh which would be delivered by a hawala transaction. The person in Mumbai was instructed to go to the Shalimar Hotel situated at Mohammad Ali Road in South Mumbai at around 10 pm to collect the money. He was further told that a man dressed in blue jeans and a striped shirt will meet him at the hotel and hand over the money,” said Sivanandhan.

How did the terrorists get arrested?

Sivanandhan formed six teams each consisting of one senior police officer and one junior. They were asked to keep a vigil around the Shalimar Hotel. “At around 10 pm, one person came there and was met at the entrance by a man clothed in blue jeans and a striped shirt. After spending a few moments inside the hotel, both came out, the person wearing blue jeans hailed a taxi and left in the direction of South Mumbai,” he said.

The police teams followed the man who took the money to Basheerbagh slums in Jogeshwari. For two days, the officers maintained a strict vigil. Then Sivanandhan reached the spot, a raid was conducted and five terrorists were arrested. “To our utter shock, a huge cache of arms and ammunitions including two AK-56 assault rifles, five hand grenades, Anti-Tank TNT rocket launchers, shells and three detonators and explosives, six pistols, huge stock of ammunitions and Rs 1,72,000 in cash were recovered from the room. It was as if the terrorists had planned to conduct a major terror attack in Mumbai… Interestingly, a map of Matoshree was also recovered from the room,” he wrote in IE.

Simultaneous raids were also conducted at two other places in Jogeshwari and Malad. “In one of the raids, a flat rented by a Nepali couple was raided and live hand grenades, 2-3 Glock pistols and USD 10,000 in cash were recovered. With the recovery of American currency, it was quite clear that this was an international conspiracy,” he said.

Sivanandhan said during interrogation of Abdul Latif Patel, one of the arrested terrorists, it was revealed that their entire team, including the hijackers, had been holed up in Mumbai since July 1999 and were preparing for the hijack.