"Amitabh Bachchan" to be extradited from UAE

Bengaluru, May 18: Criminals and terrorists have taken a liking for fancy names. While Indian Mujahideen operatives, Riyaz Bhatkal and Yasin Bhatkal used the aliases Sharukh Khan, here is one more operative who chose the alias "Amitabh Bachchan."

Haji Abdullah alias Amitabh Bachchan a resident of Kasargode, Kerala ran a major fake currency racket in the United Arab Emirates. Today his extradition has been cleared by the UAE and he is all set to arrive in India.

The love for fancy names

Terrorists and criminals are known to have such fancy aliases. They chose their aliases themselves. While some are pet names given by their handlers, these criminals also have the option to chosing their aliases.

Firstly chosing an alias is to avoid the scrutiny of the police. Criminals get sufficient time to move around by the time the police discover their real names.

When Yasin Bhatkal alias Sharukh Khan was questioned, he was asked about the logic of choosing this name. He said that there was nothing much to read into it and he wanted an alias. " I am a big fan of Sharukh Khan and hence chose this name," Yasin had said.

The same was the case of Riyaz Bhatkal who had also chosen the same alias. Yasin had told the police that even Riyaz was a Sharukh Khan fan and henced donned the alias.

Amitabh Bachchan is a first

While it is to be seen why Haji chose the alias Amitabh, it could also be a simple case of him being a fan of the superstar. Many times, aliases are given based on the characteristics of a person. However this is for the first time that any criminal has used the alias Amitabh.

There have been aliases such as Langda as the person in question had a limp. In several others cases, there are aliases just chosen on a random basis. However the most popular film name taken as an alias has always been Sharukh Khan.

There was a time in the Indian Mujahideen when every third operative took this name. However giving the alias Sharukh to every operative other than Yasin and Riyaz was a matter of strategy.

There was a great deal of confusion on who the real Sharukh Khan was for sometime. In fact a Delhi police officer who probed Yasin said that for a long time every IM operative they had arrested had told them, My name is Sharukh Khan. It was only after much probing that we realized that Sharukh was an alias taken by Riyaz and Yasin Bhatkal.

Haji alias Amitabh

The extradition of Haji is an important step for the National Investigating Agency. Haji has been a kingpin in the fake currency racket for several years now.

The NIA suspects that he was linked with a notorious smuggler, Iqbal Kana and with him was running the fake currency racket. The NIA says that his questioning would lead to an important trail and route which is being used to pump in Fake Indian Currency into the market.

OneIndia News