Mumbai: Investigations into the Malegaon blasts have revealed that Noor-ul-Huda, who was first arrested for allegedly planting a dummy bomb, had, in fact, helped assemble the RDX bombs that killed 38 people on September 8.
It has now transpired that the dummy bomb, which helped the police crack the case, was planted by one Raees Ahmed.
Sources from the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) said that after the arrest of Shabbir Masiullah (34) in August, Huda was looking after Masiullah’s battery unit located on the outskirts of Malegaon. Huda (23) was employed in the unit as a mechanic.
Masiullah was arrested by the crime branch for his alleged association with the banned organisation, Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). He is alleged to have attended a month-long terror training camp in Pakistan.
“The battery unit was jointly owned by Masiullah and his brother-in-law, Raees Ahmed (36). After Masiullah’s arrest, Ahmed made all business deals and Huda helped him in manufacturing or repairing batteries and inverters,’’ an ATS officer said.
The officer said that the RDX, ammonium nitrate, and fuel oil used in the Malegaon blasts were brought to Masiullah’s unit, where an expert made the bombs. “Huda had helped in assembling the bombs. He made this disclosure during interrogation,’’ the officer said.
However, the ATS is tightlipped about the identity of the bomb-maker. “Our investigation is at a crucial stage and disclosing these things could hamper it,’’ an officer said.
Huda and Masiullah were booked in the Malegaon blasts case along with Ahmed. While Masiullah is accused of conspiring in the blasts, Huda is said to have planted the bombs.
ATS sources said it was Ahmed, a resident of Aayesha Nagar in Malegaon, and not Huda, who had planted the dummy bomb at a mosque in Malegaon on September 12 to create communal conflict between Hindus and Muslims. An ATS officer said, “Huda packed mud in two boxes with two batteries connected to wires to make them look like a bomb. The mud was from Masiullah’s battery unit and Ahmed planted the bomb in the mosque near a Hindu locality,’’ said the officer.
“When the boxes were spotted, we rushed to the mosque with our dog squad. The dog sat there after sniffing the boxes. It was an indication that the boxes contained explosive. The NSG dogs were also called and they also reacted in the same manner. When the boxes were opened in an open space we found only mud. The question arose: when there was only mud, why did the sniffer dogs signal explosives? We sent the mud for a chemical analysis and found that the mud contained traces of RDX,’’ an officer said.
ATS sources said they got information about Huda, Shabbir and other persons, who were on the watchlist of the police, from local residents. “We picked them up after cross-examination of facts and after a thorough verification,’’ a senior officer of the ATS said.
PROTEST AGAINST ARRESTS:
Over 500 people gathered inside the Bada Qabrastan (cemetery) to observe a ‘Black Day’ on Friday after offering namaz. “Most of them had covered their faces with a black cloth, just like the police covers the face of an accused,’’ said Rajesh Pradhan, additional superintendent of police in Malegaon. The protesters said they were not convinced with the recent arrests made in the Malegaon blasts case. The police should arrest the “real culprits’’, they said. People from the Hindu community and the families of the victims and the deceased also took part in the protest. The protest was peaceful, the police said.
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