Underworld don and India's most wanted gangster Dawood Ibrahim has been hospitalised and kept under tight security in Pakistan's Karachi, sources have said. Speculation was rife about his health condition after several unconfirmed reports on social media claimed that the fugitive don was hospitalised after he was allegedly poisoned.
According to sources cited by an India Today report, Dawood Ibrahim was admitted to the hospital two days ago under stringent security and was the sole patient on the floor. The report also said only top hospital officials and his close family members had access to the floor.
Sources said Dawood likely passed away between 8 pm and 9 PM (IST) in the hospital.
The 1993 Mumbai blasts mastermind has been residing in Pakistan, as per reports, however, Islamabad has denied sheltering him. However, in January this year, Ibrahim's Nephew told the National Investigation Agency (NIA) that the underworld don stays in Karachi.
At the time of the investigation, the probe agency recorded the statement of Alishah Parkar, son of Dawood Ibrahim's sister Haseena Parkar. Alishah said Dawood has four brothers and four sisters “and remarried a Pakistani Pathan woman.”
She added that he changed his location in Karachi and lived in the defence area near Rahim Faki located behind Abullah Ghazi Baba Dargah in Karachi.
This comes amid a disruption in the Pakistani internet services, which even though is linked to a rally by Imran Khan's PTI, many on social media interpreted the disruptions as an deliberate act amid rumours of Dawood Ibrahim's death following the poisoning bid.
The speculation received credence Pakistani journalist Arzoo Kazmi in a video claimed that the internet disruptions of social media platforms such as Twitter, Google and YouTube were an attempt to cover up some "major incident". She also informed that Dawood was in a critical condition in hospital.