The Delhi police’s special cell on Friday arrested three suspected aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. As per Delhi DCP special cell, the trio was planning to kill Shia Wakf Board chief Wasim Rizvi, at the underworld don’s behest. Reports have claimed that weapons were recovered from the three aides and that they have been identified as Arif, Abrar and Saleem.
This development comes after Rizvi had received a threat call in January from a man identifying as Dawood Ibrahim’s aide. The aide allegedly threatened to blow up Rizvi and his family. As per Rizvi, the caller asked him to seek pardon from Islamic clerics and also claimed that Dawood Ibrahim was annoyed ( by his statements).
As a result of this, an FIR was lodged in connection with this matter with the Sahadatganj police station in old Lucknow city.
Rizvi has for quite some time ruffled the feathers of a few radical Muslims for his politically incorrect views. In January apart from the threat call by Dawood’s aide, a Muslim organisation had announced a Rs 10 lakh bounty on his head. The organisation named All India Faizan-e-Madina Council (AIFMC) had also promised a free haj trip to anyone who brought them Rizvi’s head.
In both the aforementioned cases, radicals were miffed with Rizvi for calling Madrasas as terror hubs.
Besides these views, Rizvi has also openly called for the construction of a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. While on the matter, Rizvi famously asked Muslims opposed to the temple’s construction to go to Pakistan. As per him, such fundamentalist Muslims had no place in India.
This pro-Ram Manidr view of Rizvi is incidentally in line with the Shia Wakf Board’s stance that Ram Mandir be constructed at the Janambhoomi area, while a Mosque be built in a Muslim dominated area that is at a reasonable distance from Lord Ram’s birthplace.
Besides advocating for a Ram Mandir, Rizvi also wrote to the AIMPLB president asking them to return all the Mosques which were built on destroyed temples, back to Hindus.