Police should explain how Ariz Khan escaped from Batla House: Salman Khurshid on IM terrorist's arrest

Senior Congress leader and former Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid on Wednesday said that police should explain how the arrested Indian Mujahideen terrorist Ariz Khan escaped from the site of Batla House encounter in the first place, way back in 2008.

Ariz Khan alias Junaid who was linked to serial blasts in UP, Gujarat and Delhi and had escaped during the Batla House encounter, was arrested from the Indo-Nepal Border.

A team of the Delhi Police's Special Cell arrested Ariz Khan (32) from Banwasa on Indo-Nepal border.

"He should have been arrested from the site of the encounter itself, police should explain why he was not arrested then. How he was allowed to escape, now he has been arrested, they should explain how he escaped," said Salman Khurshid.

Meanwhile, Batla House resident told ANI that the encounter in 2008 was suspicious. "Don't believe he was involved. We are not saying that if someone has committed a crime then no action should be taken but we don't want anyone to be wrongly implicated."

Khan was present at Batla House, along with four others, and had managed to give police the slip during the encounter on September 19, 2008 in Delhi's Jamia Nagar, in which two Indian Mujahideen terrorists were killed and as many arrested.

Khan was also wanted by the Delhi Police in connection with serial blasts in September 2008 in the national capital in which about 30 people were killed and over 100 injured.

He was linked with deadly terror strikes in which about 165 people were killed and over 535 were injured. A Red Corner notice was also issued by the Interpol against him.

"He was an expert bomb-maker and a core member of Azamgarh module of the IM, He was involved in "conspiring and planning" Delhi, Jaipur and Ahmedabad bomb blasts in 2008 carried out by the IM," said PS Kushwah, DCP(Special Cell).

After escaping during the Batla House encounter, Khan and his accomplice, Shehzad, visited their relatives in Delhi, UP, Rajasthan and Maharastra to seek shelter and financial aid but they did not receive any help.

A month later they separated and Khan crossed over to Nepal. He later managed to get citizenship and a passport of the country in the name of Salim Khan, through fake papers. Along with Tauqueer, he started teaching at a school there. He had studied B Tech at an institute in Muzaffarnagar but had failed in the second year, said the officer.

He remained in Nepal till 2014 and during this period he came in touch with Riyaz Bhatkal who motivated him to come to Dammam, Saudi Arabia for arranging money to revive the IM in India, he said. In September 2014, he went to Saudi Arabia where he met many IM and SIMI sympathisers.

After returning from Saudi Arabia, he started visiting India clandestinely to revive the IM. Through his established contacts, he procured logistics for his visits to India. He was scheduled to meet a contact in UP when he was caught, added the officer.

(With agency input)