[1]New Delhi/ Patna: A “remorseless” Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal has reportedly told police that he carried out bomb blasts to send a message, and that he readied around 100 hardcore associates who could do anything at his bidding, even as his lawyer tried to falsify the claim of investigators that the arrested person was India’s one of the most wanted terrorists.
“Bomb blast karta hu message dene ke liye (I carry out bomb blasts to send a message),” Yasin was was quoted as saying by Motihari superintendent of police Vinay Kumar, who played a key role in the arrest of the two top IM operatives from the Indo-Nepal border and interrogated him.
Mr Kumar that Bhatkal and his associate expressed no remorse for triggering blasts that killed a large number of people in different cities.
On Bodh Gaya blasts, the IM chief said, “Good... it seems there are other people like us working for the same purpose”, even as he denied any role in the July 7 bombings.
Yasin and his close associate Asadullah Akhtar “Haddi” were on Friday remanded in 12-day police custody by a Delhi court after the NIA?brought them from Bihar where they were arrested along the Indo-Nepal border.
As Indian intelligence agencies mounted their surveillance in the hunt for the 30-year-old IM chief, sending `1 lakh home as an “Idi” (gift) to his wife before the Id early this month perhaps proved to be his undoing and gave away the Nepal hideout of the terrorist.
The transfer of money done through normal banking channels alerted sleuths of Intelligence Bureau whose suspicions were aroused on the possible plans by the co-founder of the banned Indian Mujahideen to enter India to trigger terror attacks or flee from Nepal’s Pokhra area.
Known as a ghost bomber, Yasin told his interrogators that the money sent to his wife in India was meant for expenses for Id festivities on August 9.
Investigators have found a laptop and mobile phone from Yasin’s possession which are expected to throw up vital clues in unraveling a number of terror modules.
The sources said a forged driving licence and a voter ID were also recovered from Yasin who was nabbed by Indian agencies with a “lot of help” from Nepal police.
Meanwhile, in front of district judge I.S. Mehta, the duo’s lawyer M.S. Khan opposed the probe agency’s plea seeking 14-day custody saying “the accused person before the court is Mohmmad Ahmed and not Yasin Bhatkal.”
NIA searches IM’s next ‘Shahrukh’
U. Sudhakar Reddy | DC
Hyderabad: After Yasin Bhatkal’s arrest, counter intelligence and investigation agencies are trying to find the answer to who will be the Indian Mujahideen’s next Shahrukh Khan.
Top IM operatives Riyaz and Yasin Bhatkal, who headed the terror outfit, shared the alias Shahrukh Khan and National Investigation Agency sources said that operatives use this alias to indicate the head of the agency.Riyaz even got a passport in the name of Shahrukh Khan from Ranchi in January 2010.
“Riyaz, who used the name Shahrukh Khan, fled to Pakistan after the Gokul and Lumbini blasts. Yasin, who took over as the IM chief, then took the name,” said an NIA source. NIA is also probing whether Yasin has a Pakistani passport.
After Yasin’s arrest, sources said that Bada Sajid, another terror suspect wanted by the Hyderabad Police, is a potential candidate to head IM. Mohammed Sajid alias Bada Sajid, from the Nizamabad tehsil in Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh, is one of the 10 absconding terror suspects listed by the NIA. He is also a suspect in the Dilsukhnagar and the German Bakery blasts.
While Yasin, during interrogation, did not divulge anything on the Dilsukhnagar blasts, he told officers that he was “aware of the Hyderabad blasts” and that they had been carried out to “send a message”.
A team of counter intelligence officials of the AP police has gone to New Delhi to question Yasin and Asadullah Akthar. “We are planning to bring him to Hyderabad and take him to the blast site,” said an official.
Links:
[1] http://archive.asianage.com/police-blastsjpg-685