Mateen Hafeez TNN
Mumbai: The anti-terrorism squad (ATS), probing the 13/7 serial blasts, is chasing the financial wing of the outlawed terror outfit, Indian Mujahideen (IM), and wants to paralyze it. “Without funding, it will become difficult for the IM to run its modules. The outfit requires money to continue its activities,” said ATS chief Rakesh Maria.
The IM’s hawala operations had come to light following the arrest of Kanwar Nain Pathrija from Delhi. A hawala operator, Pathrija had allegedly received Rs 10 lakh from Dubai and he later handed over this money to IM cofounder and 13/7 mastermind Yasin Bhatkal.
“Our priority is to get all the information about the IM’s financial wing and completely paralyze it so that the outfit can not run other operations,” said a police source.
In the past, four brigades formed by the IM to carry out terror attacks in Indian cities were crippled after the arrest of two dozen IM suspects.
Sources in the security establishment said two diaries seized from Pathrija contained records of hawala transactions to the tune of Rs 2 crore that took place in the last one year.
“However, the money sent by IM operative Haroon Rasheed Naik from UAE is just Rs 10 lakh. We are scanning other people who had sent and received money through hawala channels,” said the source.
According to the police, the IM has four known wings, the Shahabuddin brigade to strike in south India, the Mahemood Ghaznavi brigade to strike in the north, the Shaheed Al-Zarkavi brigade to attack VVIPs and the media cell which sends emails. “The IM’s media cell has been completely paralyzed. The outfit stopped using the terror-email technique after we traced the origin of such emails and arrested its operatives,” another officer said.
It is learnt that IM members in the Gulf have been using various tactics to raise funds, including collecting money in the name of schools and orphanages.
Policemen, who interrogated the arrested IM members, said the recruits are lured with promises of big cash rewards upon completion of a job. “The money collected through various means is sent to senior IM operatives. They use the money to pay sleeper cells and on new recruits. It seems money has become their main motivation now,” said a source.
“Once we break the financial system of the outfit, it will be completely crippled. We are taking time in verification and chasing other suspects. We feel that the investigation of financial trail will lead us to a bigger racket,” said an officer.
Behind Bars
Naqi Ahmed (22) A Bihar resident. Allegedly harboured and sheltered other accused in Mumbai. He received hawala money in Mumbai and handed over explosives to co-accused
Nadeem Ahmed (23) Also a resident of Bihar. Is accused of transporting explosives on a train from Delhi to Mumbai and aiding and abetting in the blasts
Kanwar Nain Pathrija (43) A Delhi-based hawala operator. He allegedly received Rs 10 lakh from IM operative Haroon Rasheed Naik in 2011 and gave the cash to IM co-founder Yasin Bhatkal
Haroon Rasheed Naik (34) A Thane resident. Accused of planning the blasts, looking after the financial angle and sending cash through hawala from the UAE
‘Jama attack plan hatched in Bihar’
New Delhi: The interrogation of Mohammad Tariq Anjum Hasan, the 34-year-old founder member of Indian Mujahideen, has revealed that the Jama Masjid attack of September 19, 2010, in which two Taiwanese tourists were injured and a car explosion had taken place, was planned at his residence in Bihar.
Sources claimed that Yasin Bhatkal alias Shahrukh, believed to be the India chief of IM, was part of the planning. Tariq has provided fresh details of the Jama Masjid operation, although eight IM members who were part of the attack, are already in custody. Tariq, sources said, has provided names of at least 15 IM members settled in Bihar’s Darbhanga district, Bhatkal in Karnataka and Unnao in Uttar Pradesh. Police have procured nonbailable warrants against these 15 suspects.
The Jama Masjid attack, which had taken place just a few days before the Commonwealth Games, was planned at Tariq’s house in Nalanda, sources said. Apart from Tariq and Shahrukh, Qateel Siddiqui (one of the attackers) and few other members were part of the meeting. The plan had taken shape at least two months prior to the attack, after which Shahrukh had contacted Riyaz Bhatkal and Iqbal Bhatkal in Pakistan and then they had sent a Lashkare-Taiba (LeT) operative Mohammad Adil to Delhi.
“After that, they came to Delhi and IM boss Shahrukh made bombs at the Meer Vihar factory. They recceed the Jama Masjid area for at least two days. We suspect that Tariq had also come to Delhi at that time but he did not go to Jama Masjid,” said a source. The cops have taken Tariq to Pune and a few places in south India as they believe that he knows about Shahrukh’s hideouts. They are also probing whether he was involved in the 13/7 Mumbai blasts.
The Times of India, February 6, 2012
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