Two alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives, who provided vehicles used in 2008 serial blasts in Gujarat that killed 56 and wounded over 200, have been arrested by Maharashtra ATS.
Interrogation of the two Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives arrested in Mankhurd on July 6 has revealed that one of them was indoctrinated at Arthur Road jail. The two were later assigned the task of arranging for the vehicles used to plant bombs in Ahmedabad and Surat in 2008.
The arrested persons have been identified as Mohammad Mobin Abdul Shakoor Khan alias Irfan, 32, and Ayub Raja Amin Shaikh, 28. The two are cousins and natives of Khazrana in Indore.
Additional director general of police, ATS, Rakesh Maria said that Irfan was lodged in Arthur Road jail in 2005 in a vehicle theft case. It was there that he got in touch with Afzal Usmani Mutalik, who was in jail in connection with a MCOCA case.
When IM co-founder Riyaz Bhatkal asked Mutalik for vehicles to plant bombs, he recruited Irfan and his cousin Shaikh.
“Investigation revealed that Mutalik indoctrinated the two into IM by the end of 2006. After IM members were caught following the blasts, the two fled the city and their native place in Indore. While Irfan worked in Bareilly, Rampur and Ghaziabad, Shaikh worked in Devas in Madhya Pradesh,” said deputy commissioner of police Pradeep Sawant.
“We will interrogate them to get more details about the absconding members of the group and the functioning of the IM,” Maria said. He did not say whether the duo had given any information to clarify if Bhatkal was shot dead in Pakistan a few months ago.
On July 26, 2008, a series of blasts had rocked Ahmedabad, while bombs were found in cars in Surat the next day. Investigations had revealed that some of the vehicles used in the explosions were stolen from Navi Mumbai. Maria said that Mutalik had contacted Irfan and Shaikh on July 5, asking them to arrange for the cars.
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