S Ahmed Ali | TNN
Mumbai: Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) officers said the roles of 13/7 suspects Naqi Ahmed and Nadeem Akhtar, arrested for allegedly helping the outlawed terror outfit Indian Mujaheedin (IM) perpetrate the serial blasts, are becoming clearer.
The ATS has allegedly stumbled on some vital evidence against Naqi and Nadeem. The Delhi police’s special cell had been using Naqi to trap IM founder member Yasin Bhatkal and two Pakistani bomb planters. While the Delhi cops arrived in Mumbai in December along with Naqi to trap Pakistani nationals Waqqas and Tabrez, who were staying in a rented flat at Habib Apartments in Byculla, the ATS in January picked up Naqi. This scuttled the Delhi police’s plans.
ATS chief Rakesh Maria said Naqi and Nadeem helped Bhatkal and two others rent a flat, transport explosives and detonators from Delhi to Mumbai, and do recces of Zaveri Bazar and Opera House.
ATS officers said investigations showed that Naqi and Nadeem stole four two-wheelers. The first two were Honda Activa scooters (MH01-WA-3042 and MH12-CJ-6509), which were stolen from the C P Tank and Hurkisondas Hospital areas, respectively. They were used to plant bombs at Zaveri Bazar and Opera House.
A month after the blasts, Naqi and Nadeem allegedly stole two more two-wheelers—Unicorn bikes—from V P Road and Dongri. “They hid the bikes at Nadeem’s place in Madanpura, bought two second-hand bikes of the same make, used them for a month and then sold them,” said an ATS officer. “They made copies of the registration documents of the bikes they bought, used them for the stolen bikes, put new number plates on the latter and sent them to Bihar by train.”
The ATS has procured the railway receipts and duplicate copies of the bikes’ registration books, which are now evidence in the case. Maria said: “The two bikes have been seized. Some family members of Naqi and Nadeem were using them.”
“If they are innocent, then why did they steal the bikes, forge documents and send the vehicles to their native place?” argued an officer.
Cops alleged that Naqi knew that he was ferrying explosives. The police also seized receipts from a gym near Zaveri Bazar where Naqi and Waqqas had taken membership but didn’t submit photographs.
9th SIM scam arrest
Siddharth Dev | YOUNG EDITOR
The ATS, probing a SIM card racket that helped detect the 13/7 blasts case, on Tuesday arrested a 23-year-old vada pav hawker.
Shivkumar Hanumanta Mensiru, a Dadar resident, has been remanded in police custody till February 1 He is the ninth person to be arrested in the case. ATS chief Rakesh Maria said: “When ATS officers picked him up, he was carrying several fake documents. He used to work with Ganesh Tikole, an MTNL agent.”
(This young editor was accompanied by Mateen Hafeez)
The Times of India, January 26, 2012
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