On 24 December 1999, an Indian Airlines plane IC-814 was hijacked by terrorists. At that time there were 191 people on board the plane. The terrorists released all the passengers on 31 December, eight days later, in exchange for the release of three terrorists including dreaded terrorist Masood Azhar, who was imprisoned in India. On this matter, former DCP of Delhi Police LN Rao said that the terrorist imprisoned in the jail had prior information about the hijacking of the plane.
Former DCP Rao said that when we were ordered to free a terrorist from jail and hand him over to Indira Gandhi International Airport, we felt very sad. Because the terrorist whom we catch, today we have to release him. But the government had taken a decision, so we had to follow it because the government must have taken the decision after careful consideration.
He said that I first went to Tis Hazari court in a gypsy with staff and commandos. Actually a release warrant has to be made from the court. To release any terrorist or criminal, a release warrant is first made from the court. In this warrant it was said that this terrorist is being released on the orders of the government. I went to the jail with that release warrant and met the jail superintendent.
When asked how many people were there, there were five people in the gypsy including me. Warrant was served in Tihar Jail and the jailor verified it. During this I had to wait for half an hour. After that I was called from the jail and handed over.
When asked, when you saw terrorist Umar Saeed Sheikh for the first time in Tihar Jail, what was his expression? Rao said that he was a handsome boy of about six feet. His height was about six feet. His age was also not much. He must have been between 25 and 30 years old at that time. There was a happy expression on his face. He knew that he was going to be released from jail. We could read his face, he was not tensed. We took him to IGI Airport because the time to reach the airport was fixed. When we took him from the jail, we started talking to him on the way. We asked him that you must have known that you are being released. He easily told that yes, I knew it a week ago. He came to know a week ago that he was going to be released soon.
Rao said that when he told me this, I stopped the car at a place on the way. I thought that this man is not worth leaving. Even my soul was not giving me the authority to leave him but I could not do anything.
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