The error undermined India's efforts to pressurise its neighbour and rival over its alleged sheltering of criminals and extremists who are suspected of plotting cross-border strikes. Khan was arrested in connection with a shipment of arms and ammunition allegedly organised by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim before a series of deadly blasts in the city in 1993 that killed more than 250 people. He is currently in the high-security Arthur Road jail awaiting trial, Shah added.
"It's criminal negligence and lack of co-ordination between the agencies," the lawyer said of his client's appearance on the most-wanted list. Shah said his client was arrested on February 5, 2010 and was produced before court on February 15. He was given police custody for 15 days then remanded in prison.
Mumbai Police "have not co-ordinated" with the federal Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Shah said. The list was handed to Pakistan earlier this year but only made public last week as India sought to increase pressure on Islamabad in the wake of the death of al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden. The latest error comes after it was revealed earlier this week that another man on the list, Wazhur Qamar Khan, was actually living on the outskirts of Mumbai.
He is currently on bail after being arrested in connection with the 2003 blasts in Mumbai's Zaveri Bazaar jewellery quarter and at the Gateway of India monument that killed 52. The CBI, which suspended one employee and transferred two others to other duties over the mistake surrounding Wazhur Qamar Khan, has now taken down the list from its website pending revision.
India's Home Minister P. Chidambaram apologised and said he was satisfied that the mistake was a "genuine oversight". The Press Trust of India news agency quoted an unnamed home ministry official as saying that they may send a corrected list to Pakistan. The list includes the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Dawood Ibrahim, who is also on Interpol's "most wanted" list.
Abhishek Manu Singhvi, spokesman for the ruling Congress party, told reporters in New Delhi that an investigation was underway to determine how the mistakes happened. They were "looking at it with all seriousness and earnestness but I'm not prepared to give a verdict or result before the verdict", he said. "The Congress doesn't take this lightly."