India rejects UN rapporteur’s description of Dawood Ibrahim’s D-Company as ‘India-based’, flags ‘glaring inaccuracies’

New Delhi has strongly objected to a UN special rapporteur’s description of gangster Dawood Ibrahim-led D-Company as an “India-based” criminal group, citing what it called “glaring inaccuracies” in the report and warning that such errors could cause significant harm to the United Nations.

Raghoo Puri, First Secretary at India’s Permanent Mission to the UN, delivered the rebuttal on Wednesday during a meeting of the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly. Puri was responding to a report by Ben Saul, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism.

UN rapporteur Ben Saul, in his report, had described Dawood Ibrahim as the leader of the “India-based” D-Company criminal gang with terrorist ties. 

‘Releasing reports with factual inaccuracies’

“My delegation has been pointing out in other forums as well our serious concern at the unacceptable situation of the SR (Special Rapporteur) releasing reports with factual inaccuracies, while not being held accountable for them,” Puri said.

He said this presents member states with a fait accompli, an unfortunate situation for an organisation already facing challenges to its legitimacy. “It is in this context that we would like to point out some particularly glaring inaccuracies as far as my country is concerned,” Puri said.

Puri pointed to Saul’s report, which stated that in 2003, the UN Security Council listed the leader of a criminal group described as “the India-based D-Company” for association with Al-Qaeda. “Read in isolation, this line paints a very different picture from the actual reality,” Puri said.

Dawood lives where Osama was found

Strongly rejecting the description of D-Company as India-based, Puri said the criminal organisation and its listed leader, Dawood Ibrahim, have been wanted in India in connection with terror attacks since 1993. “This is clearly written in the narrative summary of reasons of listing under the 1267 sanctions regime,” he said, referring to the UN Security Council’s Al-Qaeda sanctions regime.

“Not mentioning this fact is regrettable, and such incompetence on part of special mandate holders does this organisation tremendous harm,” Puri said.

“Let me correct it for the record. This individual fled India much before the 2003 listing, and it was during this period from outside our country that he was listed for being associated with Al Qaeda and with Osama bin Laden,” he said.

Puri said Dawood Ibrahim remains a wanted criminal in India and, according to the UN listing, resides in the same country where Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was found and killed, in an apparent reference to Pakistan.

Bin Laden was killed by US Navy SEALs during a raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in 2011.

‘Bias in different parts of Saul’s report’

India also flagged what it described as “clear bias” in various parts of Saul’s report and raised concerns over media allegations involving the Special Rapporteur’s office, stressing the need to uphold the highest standards of integrity and impartiality.

Saul is the chair of international law at the University of Sydney and an elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences.

The report has also come under scrutiny over allegations concerning Saul’s funding. 

UN Watch, a non-governmental organisation that monitors the functioning of the United Nations, alleged in a 104-page investigation published in May 2026, titled From Watchdogs to Ideologues, that Saul received USD 150,000 from China. “The Chinese government is his largest funder, giving USD 150,000 in 2024,” the UN Watch investigation said.

Puri also cautioned against what he described as attempts by sponsors of terrorism to use human rights and counterterrorism frameworks to justify their actions.

“It seems to have become fashionable for sponsors of terror to use human rights and the framework of counterterrorism to justify their misdeeds. The human rights framework cannot be the refuge of the perpetrators of terror and those who propagate radicalisation and extremism,” he said.

“Terrorism can never be justified,” Puri said, rejecting remarks made by Pakistan’s delegate against India, including references to the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

 He described the allegations as “pure propaganda” driven by “narrow political gains” and said Pakistan’s military was responsible for the country’s actual policies.

Puri reiterated that Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are an inalienable part of India, adding that he would not dignify the Pakistani delegate’s remarks with further comment.

(With PTI inputs)

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