The founding members of Indian Mujahideen (IM) had thought of two other names for the outfit but dropped them as they sounded too technical to be understood by the common man, the police said.
Iqbal Bhatkal and his brother Riyaz Bhatkal, Mansoor Peerbhoy, Asif Bashiruddin Shaikh and Mobin Qadar Shaikh, alias Salmaan, had selected the names for the group, a Crime Branch officer said, requesting anonymity. Indian Mujahideen was their third choice, he said.
IM was initially a loosely-knit group of members of a breakaway faction of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). “The group carried out several blasts before the Jaipur blasts in May last year,” another Crime Branch officer said. “But no one talked about the group after the blasts.”
Before the Jaipur blasts, the Bhatkal brothers and their associates decided to name the group to ensure that it got publicity, the officer said. They first named the outfit Furqan, which in Arabic means one who can differentiate between haq (right) and batil (wrong).
“But they felt the name was too technical to be understand by the common man. They then named the outfit Isaba, which in Arabic means a battalion of Prophet Mohammad,” the officer said. “They were still not happy with the name. Finally, they decided to call it Indian Mujahideen. They christened the group at its control room in an apartment in Ashoka Mews building in Pune.”
The e-mail address (al_arbi_delhi@yahoo.com), from which the group sent terror warnings to media houses before blasts, was created by Riyaz, the officer said.
IM was responsible for a series of blasts across the country since 2005, the police said. The Mumbai Crime Brancharrested 21 of its members.
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