Pune blast suspect Bhatkal’s brother held

Asseem Shaikh, Mihir Tanksale & Mateen Hafeez | TNN

Pune/Mumbai: Abdul Samad Bhatkal, younger brother of Pune German Bakery blast prime suspect and Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative Yaseen Bhatkal, was picked up by the Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad (ATS) on Monday morning, ostensibly for his alleged involvement in a little-known case of preparing for a supari killing.

Despite the official reason for his arrest, senior police officials told TOI that the 25-year-old native of Karnataka was suspected of having planted the bomb at Pune’s German Bakery on February 13.

Bhatkal’s arrest came 102 days after the devastating blast, which killed 17 persons. He was held soon after he landed on Monday at Mangalore’s Bajpe airport, the same airport that saw the devastating mishap on Saturday morning; he was returning from Dubai.

No senior official would come on record linking Bhatkal with the German Bakery blast, but ATS insiders said the arrest followed a lookout notice — issued following the blast — at airports across the country. This is the first high-profile arrest the ATS has made in connection with the blast.

Bhatkal was on board Air India flight XI 812 and first noticed by immigration officials, who alerted the ATS. ATS officers then whisked Bhatkal to an undisclosed location.

Batkal had left for Dubai 12 days after the Pune blast and returned after his visa expired. His father owns several properties in Goa, Mangalore and Dubai.

Officials said Bhatkal’s name cropped up in the case when investigators were probing the closedciruit television camera footage from the German Bakery; a man in his mid-20s was seen walking into the bakery and keeping some bags.

The police suspected it was Bhatkal on the footage and compared the images to the photo on Bhatkal’s passport. The officer told TOI that the person seen in the footage was smartly dressed, wearing a cap and walked into the bakery with two bags; but he later walked out of the bakery with only one bag. Officials said investigators had scanned photographs of nine or 10 suspects from Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Hyderabad before they zeroed in on Bhatkal. The ATS had launched a massive search operation across the country to trace Bhatkal since he left for Dubai, an officer said.

Bhatkal, suspected to be the member of IM, was never on any airport’s look-out notice prior to the Pune blast. His brother, Yaseen, is a wanted accused in the Delhi and Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts. TOI had earlier reported about Yaseen’s suspected role in the Pune blast.


‘He Will Be Booked In A Nine-Month-Old Case’
Abdul Samad Bhatkal completed his schooling from Bhatkal village and studied up to the higher secondary level in Bangalore. His rich businessman father constructed a mosque in Goa.

Bhatkal is believed to be relative of Riyaz Bhatkal, an IM founder member. Bhatkal is suspected to have visited Pakistan during 2008 as well.

A senior ATS official told TOI, “Bhaktal will be booked in the case of last year’s preparation for a supari killing in which three persons were arrested. Bhatkal had supplied them with firearms, which were smuggled from China.’’ The ATS on August 5, 2009, arrested three alleged Chhota Shakeel gang members, Haji Imran (29), Suleiman Mehmood alias Katela (25) and Afzal Shaikh alias Lala (38).

Haji Imran is brother in-law of Aarif Baig who helped gangster Firoz Konkani escape from Mumbai’s J J Hospital.

The Times of India, May 2010