‘Goa blast may have motivated nabbed duo’

LONG WAIT: Relatives of Latif and Riyaz outside the court

ONGC, MALL TERROR PLOT

Mateen Hafeez I TNN

Mumbai: The two persons caught on March 13 for allegedly planning to set the ONGC headquarters on fire could have been motivated by their Pakistani handlers who would have referred to the Goa blast, where the involvement of Hindu organisation Sanatan Sanstha is suspected.

According to a security agency source, the two suspects could have been brainwashed by instilling fear in them of right-wing organisations becoming stronger.

The suspects, Abdul Latif Rashid alias Guddu (29) and his brother-in-law Riyaz Ali Imtiyaz alias Rehan (23), were produced in a Mazgaon court on Thursday when they were remanded in police custody till March 26. They were charged under the UAPA for planning a terror strike on the ONGC headquarters in Bandra, Mangaldas market near Crawford Market and Thakkar Mall in Borivli. The police suspect that the two were targeting two other areas in the city but refused to divulge more.

While seeking their custody, the police said they wanted to establish the identity of a person referred to as “chacha” in phone conversations. “Chacha” spoke to them from Pakistan. According to the security agency source, the police have the records of an over 120-minute conversation between the two suspects and the uncle. “They had been speaking to uncle for six months,’’ said the source. The uncle is suspected to be one Bashir Khan, an absconder in the 1993 blasts case, and now staying in Karachi.

Security personnel said that the two may have been lured to terrorist activities by the promise of easy money. However, initially they could also have been motivated by repeated references to the Goa blast that claimed four lives. ATS officials were tight-lipped about the probe.

On Thursday, Latif and Riyaz’s families waited to meet them outside the ATS Kalachowki unit but they were not allowed to do so. They finally left around 4.30 pm when Latif’s wife, Nusrat, fainted.

The Times of India, March 19, 2010