His arrest a body-blow to Indian Mujahideen, claim police officers.
Mentor, trainer, bomber, intelligence agent, fund raiser and executor of bomb blasts. Yes, all this was the responsibility of none other than Yasin Bhatkal of Indian Mujahideen (IM), the terror outfit, which had killed hundreds of people across the country. Police believe that his arrest had dealt a telling blow to the IM by the Indian government.
The brain behind the formation of the terror outfit, Bhatkal was self-motivated and in direct contact with Aamir Raza the supreme boss of the IM who is believed to be hiding in Pakistan. Raza, along with Riyaz Bhatkal, Iqbal Bhatkal and Abdul Subbhan Qureshi alias Tauquer, Safdar Nagori and Yasin, had formed the IM to carry out bomb blasts in major cities like Ahmedabad, Surat, Pune, Jaipur, Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi and Varanasi.
According to an officer of the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB), Bhatkal is an all-rounder in spreading terror across the country. “He has the ability to make an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) as well as enter any city with a different identity to conduct recce in the area,” a police source said.
Hailing from an affluent family in Karnataka which went to settle in Dubai later, Bhatkal was never in good terms with his family, said sources, and had led a lavish lifestyle, till he met people, who wanted to form the IM.
Bhatkal had raised a huge amount of money for IM activities through the network of the Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) along Nepal and Bangladesh borders. “He used to operate the FICN network from places like Darbhanga and Kolkata,” the officer said. His arrest means a break on recruitment as well as a break in the supply of funds to the IM, till it gets his substitute.
DCB sleuths believe that his arrest is the beginning of the end of the Gujarat module of the IM, which was responsible for the Ahmedabad serial blasts and planting of 15 bombs in Surat city, both in July 2008.
The sleuths believe that there are three others, whose arrests could be the last nail in the coffin of the IM as it would successfully wind up the investigation of the Ahmedabad blasts. “Iqbal, Riyaz and Tauqeer will end the investigation,” said an officer.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}