UK to decide on ‘93 blast accused Hanif’s extradition

Newly-appointed UK home secretary Amber Rudd is to decide on the extradition of Tiger Hanif, wanted in India in connection with two bomb blasts in Surat in 1993 following the Babri Masjid demolition, a media report said here on Monday.

The 55-year-old Hanif, an alleged aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, was traced to a grocery store in Bolton, Greater Manchester, and arrested by Scotland Yard on an extradition warrant from Indian authorities in February, 2010. He lost his appeal in the UK High Court in April 2013 following which the case was handed over to then UK home secretary and now Prime Minister, Theresa May, to sign an extradition order.

As part of UK extradition proceedings, he was allowed to make representations to the Home Office and the case has now passed on to May’s successor Rudd’s desk. “Further representations have been made to the Home Secretary in this case and they are currently being carefully considered,” a UK Home Office spokesperson said. Hanif, whose full name is Mohammed Hanif Umerji Patel, arrived in the UK illegally in 1996 after skipping bail in India following his arrest over the attacks.

He was allowed to stay in Britain claiming he was a Muslim being persecuted in Hindu-dominated Gujarat and went on to obtain a UK passport in 2005.