The anti-terrorism squad (ATS) seems to have zeroed in on the identity of chacha, the Pakistan-based handler of the two suspected terrorists arrested at Matunga railway station on Saturday. He could be Merchant Tahir Mohammad, alias Tahir Taklya, 54, wanted in the 1993 Bombay serial blasts case and an aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
A source said the ATS got the name after questioning the arrested men, Abdul Latif Abdul Rashid Shaikh, alias Guddu, 29, and Riyaz Ali Abu Bakar Shaikh, alias Riyan, 22. But ATS officers refused to comment on record.
The questioning has also revealed that the two are part of a 12-member group; the other 10 members are believed to have gone into hiding. An ATS officer said all 12 were planning to go to Pakistan for training. Taklya, believed to be in Karachi along with Dawood and Tiger Memon, carries a Rs5-lakh bounty on his head and has a CBI red-corner notice against him.
“The mobile phone records of Guddu and Riyan suggest they have been receiving several calls from Karachi,” said an ATS officer on the condition of anonymity.
He said chacha used to call Guddu intermittently but their interaction had become regular in the last two months.
ATS chief KP Raghuvanshi had said on Sunday that Guddu and Riyan were targeting ONGC tankers in Nhava Sheva and Sewree, Thakkar mall in Borivli and the Mangaldas market in Zaveri Bazaar for sabotage and arson. Guddu is married to Riyan’s sister and is a resident of Bandra (E). Riyan resides in Dahisar (E).
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