New Delhi: After a reported fallout with his boss and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, the social media is now abuzz with several theories claiming that Pakistan-based gangster Chhota Shakeel may not be alive.
One report claims that Chhota Shakeel -Dawood Ibrahim's most trusted lieutenant and his partner in crimes for several years – may have been killed by his rivals in a bitter succession battle within the gang.
Triggering speculation on Shakeel, an audio clip of a conversation between a member of his gang, Bilal, and a Mumbai-based relative of the underworld gangster, confirming the gangster's death has also surfaced.
However, the veracity of the clip has not been confirmed as yet. Top officials in the National Security Council Secretariat in New Delhi and Mumbai Police said they were not in a position to either confirm or deny this.
It was reported that the Karachi-based don died on January 6, 2017, in Islamabad.
Another theory says that the gangster suffered a lethal heart attack and was rushed by his bodyguards to the Combined Medical Hospital in Rawalpindi by air where he was declared dead on arrival.
Adding an interesting angle to Chhota Shakeel's reported death, a report claimed that he was actually bumped off on the directive of Pakistan's notorious spy agency the ISI.
It was reported that the Inter-Services Intelligence used its henchmen to kill 57-year-old gangster because it was becoming difficult to manage him.
The ISI, which initially tried to broker peace between Dawood and Shakeel, finally decided to eliminate him as it feared that the break-up would hit its anti-India activities, the reports said.
After his death, his body was kept in a morgue for two days and then flown to Karachi in a C-130 transport aircraft.
He was silently buried in Karachi in an unmarked grave in the Defence Housing Authority graveyard, the report said.
Soon after his death, Shakeel’s second wife Ayesha and other members of his family were asked to vacate the house and were moved to a safe house in Lahore.
Dawood Ibrahim was informed about Shakeel’s death two days later and only the inner-circle members of the D gang are aware of his death.
The fourth theory says that Choota Shakeel is alive, but has parted ways with Dawood Ibrahim over alleged interference by his younger brother Anees in the affairs of the gang.
The news about Chhota Shakeel's death started doing the rounds days after it was reported that he has cut all ties with his boss.
Shakeel also rubbished reports of a split in the D Company- an organised crime syndicate controlled by fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
Speaking exclusively to Zee Media reporter Rakesh Trivedi, Chhota Shakeel said, ''It's all rumours and there is no question about me getting apart from the D Company till my last breath.''
''I am very much with Bhai," the fugitive gangster said.
Chhota Shakeel said this in a telephonic conversation to Zee Media from an undisclosed location.
Media reports quoting top intelligence sources had claimed said that Chhota Shakeel has in fact moved away from the Clifton area of Karachi, where he had been living since the two fled Mumbai in the 1980s.
The sources claimed that Shakeel is currently holed up at an unknown location.
Shakeel, who is now in his 50s, reportedly had an argument with Dawood over the latter's younger brother Anees Ibrahim's alleged interference in the gang's operations.
Though Shakeel, known as Dawood's most trusted aide, has played a major role in handling the gang's activities for the past three decades.
