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Was Indian Mujahideen formed to avenge Gujarat riots?

Not sure. But IM used riots to target Indian cities, say security experts.

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The recent statement of Congress leader Shakeel Ahmed that Indian Mujahideen was formed to avenge the Gujarat riots, created a huge uproar forcing the Congress to distance itself from Ahmed’s statement.

Exactly five years ago, the IM had shot off an email minutes before the Ahmedabad serial blasts on July 26, 2008. Addressing the minority community of Gujarat, it said: “Do you still hesitate to fight? Just think how much you and we have suffered during and after the riots.”

Security experts believe that though the IM may not exactly have been formed to avenge the Gujarat riots, it had definitely used the riots to target Indian cities.

Investigators had found that the IM was born out of the Student Islamic Movement of India (Simi). After the Gujarat module was busted in August 2008, the outfit is not believed to be active. But sleuths fear that they can regroup easily.

“The outfit seems to be in a dormant state doing some underground activities with the pressure to regroup,” said a senior officer of the Gujarat Police.

Sleuths, however, are of the opinion that three militants — Abdul Subhan Qureshi alias Tauqeer, Yasin Bhatkal and Riyaz Bhatkal — can be deadly once they come out of hiding with renewed vigour. The Bhatkals are believed to be hiding in Pakistan while Tauqeer is believed to be in the country trying to regroup the IM.

Sources said that to carve IM out of Simi was, in fact, Tauqeer’s brainchild. He and Safdar Nagori, who is lodged in Sabarmati Jail at present, started it and later recruited Abu Bashir, Sajid Mansuri, Qayamuddin Kapadia, Younus Nagori, Fazal Rahman and many others to expand the group, and eventually, the Ahmedabd serial blast took place (all the accused are currently in jail).

A police source, who was part of the investigation of the Ahmedabad blasts, said: “Tauqeer was the instigator of the serial blasts. He had formed four wings — planter, resource, media and material — to ensure a smooth operation.” IM went on to attack Jaipur, Bangalore and New Delhi in 2008 and Pune and Varanasi in 2010.

IM modules surfaced so far
Apart from Gujarat, there were Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh modules that were operating in the country till 2008, before the Gujarat Police busted the first IM module. The Gujarat, MP and Maharashtra modules have been completely busted while other modules are yet to be eradicated completely. The Batla House encounter in Delhi busted the Delhi module of IM and avoided terrorist attacks in Delhi. The module was headed by Abu Basher. The Karnataka module was headed by a militant identified as Hafiz Hussain, while his associates were Adnan and Tazuddin Mullah.

The number game
According to the detection of crime branch (DCB), Ahmedabad, there were a total of 98 people, who were responsible for the serial blasts in Ahmedabad. Of them, 74 have been arrested while 24 are absconding.

Among the key absconders are Yasin Bhatkal, Riyaz Bhatkal, Abdul Subhan Qureshi alias Tauqeer, Mohammad Arif Azam and Aamir Raza Khan (currently believed to be hiding in Pakistan).

The blasts led to the death of 56 people while 242 were injured. A total of 24 bombs were planted in the city — of which two were defused. As many as 200 personnel of Gujarat Police were part of the investigation that spread across 10 states and continued for a very long time. Police records said that 16 people planted 22 different bombs in 14 different police station areas of the city.

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