Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal, aide arrested
31 Aug 2013 5:24 AM IST
In an unprecedented success, following a joint operation by the Intelligence Agencies, National Investigative Agency (NIA) and Bihar Police, Indian Mujahidden’s (IM) co-founder and one of India’s 12 most-wanted terrorists Yasin Bhatkal was arrested on Wednesday night from Bihar’s East Champaran district at India-Nepal border. Bhatkal’s aide Asadullah Akhtar alias Haddi was also apprehended.
According to Bihar’s Additional Director General of Police (Headquarters) Ravindra Kumar, ‘The duo was arrested near Nahar Chowk in Raxual sub-division of Bihar’s East Champaran district on the Indo-Nepal border, around 100 km from Patna.’
Both were produced by Bihar Police in a court at Motihari on Thursday evening for transit remand. Chief Judicial Magistrate SP Shukla has granted a three-day remand. They are now in custody of the NIA. A special aircraft has been arranged by New Delhi to bring the duo to the Capital even as the National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon briefed the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the catch.
The arrest is a huge setback for Pakistani terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which sponsored Indian Mujahideen. Yasin Bhatkal alias Imran alias Shahrukh alias Mohammed Ahmed Zarar Sidhibappa has been involved in majority of bomb blasts across the country since 2008. A fortnight ago, LeT’s bomb expert Abdul Karim Tunda was also arrested by Delhi police making Wednesday’s arrest a double-whammy for terror groups.
According to sources, Bhatkal’s arrest materialised following a tip-off from the US agency Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). He was being trailed for the last six months. ‘Only a handful of officials were in the know of this catch which made it a sensitive task for us,’ a senior ministry of home affairs official stated. Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde confirmed the arrest on Thursday morning and said, ‘Yasin Bhatkal was traced to the India-Nepal border and is in Bihar police custody. He is being interrogated.’
Sources said that Bhatkal was planning to flee to Bangladesh in the guise of a Unani medicine doctor when he was nabbed. ‘On being caught, he first claimed he was an engineer working on a project in Nepal. When he was unable to convince the police officials he presented himself as a Unani medicine doctor. But, he couldn’t evade the arrest this time,’ the sources stated, adding that, ‘His pictures and information was too specific for him to escape.’ During his preliminary interrogation he is believed to have confessed to planning another strike in India.
According to Bihar’s Additional Director General of Police (Headquarters) Ravindra Kumar, ‘The duo was arrested near Nahar Chowk in Raxual sub-division of Bihar’s East Champaran district on the Indo-Nepal border, around 100 km from Patna.’
Both were produced by Bihar Police in a court at Motihari on Thursday evening for transit remand. Chief Judicial Magistrate SP Shukla has granted a three-day remand. They are now in custody of the NIA. A special aircraft has been arranged by New Delhi to bring the duo to the Capital even as the National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon briefed the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the catch.
The arrest is a huge setback for Pakistani terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which sponsored Indian Mujahideen. Yasin Bhatkal alias Imran alias Shahrukh alias Mohammed Ahmed Zarar Sidhibappa has been involved in majority of bomb blasts across the country since 2008. A fortnight ago, LeT’s bomb expert Abdul Karim Tunda was also arrested by Delhi police making Wednesday’s arrest a double-whammy for terror groups.
According to sources, Bhatkal’s arrest materialised following a tip-off from the US agency Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). He was being trailed for the last six months. ‘Only a handful of officials were in the know of this catch which made it a sensitive task for us,’ a senior ministry of home affairs official stated. Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde confirmed the arrest on Thursday morning and said, ‘Yasin Bhatkal was traced to the India-Nepal border and is in Bihar police custody. He is being interrogated.’
Sources said that Bhatkal was planning to flee to Bangladesh in the guise of a Unani medicine doctor when he was nabbed. ‘On being caught, he first claimed he was an engineer working on a project in Nepal. When he was unable to convince the police officials he presented himself as a Unani medicine doctor. But, he couldn’t evade the arrest this time,’ the sources stated, adding that, ‘His pictures and information was too specific for him to escape.’ During his preliminary interrogation he is believed to have confessed to planning another strike in India.
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