Terror Group’s Ideologue Detained By Delhi Police Gave Leg-Up To Months Of Probe By Identifying Planter Of Explosive At Dadar
Mateen Hafeez | TNN
The identity of the Dadar Kabutarkhana bomber was unknown until now. In court documents, the ATS cited two individuals—identified only as ‘A’ and ‘B’—as the bomb planters at Zaveri Bazar and Opera House. Some sources said the two unidentified men were Pakistanis named Waqqas and Tabrez.
Police sources said the bomber knew his counterparts at Zaveri Bazar and Opera House. Born and raised in Maharashtra, the suspect was shifted to his family’s native place of Darbhanga in Bihar eight years ago, when “he had a love affair with a girl,” a cop told TOI. He came to Mumbai in the first week of July last year.
The suspect’s name came up in the 13/7 investigation during the interrogation of one of the arrested men, Naqi Shaikh. Naqi is alleged to have arranged accommodation in Mumbai for the two suspected Pakistani bombers and IM co-founder Yasin Bhatkal. The suspect’s cropped up again during the questioning of Kafeel Ahmed by the Delhi police. Ahmed, who was arrested in February this year and is suspected to be an IM ideologue and recruiter, allegedly revealed the suspect’s role in the Dadar blast.
Wary of risking the operation in south India, senior police officials refused to reveal the identity of the suspect and remained tightlipped about the breakthrough. “Our investigation is at a crucial stage and we don’t want to speak about it at all,” said ATS chief Rakesh Maria.
Apart from Naqi Shaikh, the ATS have till now arrested alleged IM members Haroon Rasheed Naik and Nadeem Akhtar and Delhi-based hawala operator Kanwarnai Pathrija. Akhtar is alleged to have ferried explosives from Delhi to Mumbai and stolen one of the scooters on which a bomb was planted. “He smuggled the explosives and detonators from Delhi to Mumbai and handed them over to Naqi. Akhtar and Naqi also stole two motorbikes and two scooters. One of the scooters was used in the Zaveri Bazar bomb blast. We have recovered the two other motor bikes from Bihar,” Maria had said earlier.
Naik, meanwhile, is said to have sent over Rs 10 lakh through hawala channels from UAE to Delhi. This money was received by Pathrija and passed on to Bhatkal.
THE ACCUSED
NAQI AHMED
Naqi Ahmed Vasi Shaikh, aged 22, is a resident of Deora Bandhauli, in Darbhanga district, Bihar. The trader has two leather units, one in Delhi and one in Mumbai. He and his brothers Razi and Rafi run a shoe-making business inherited from their father. Naqi, Razi and Rafi were detained on January 8 in Mumbai and Naqi was booked in a SIM card forgery case. Razi and Rafi were later released. Police allege that Yasin Bhatkal sent explosives for the 13/7 blasts from Delhi to Mumbai, where Naqi received them, and that Naqi stole a scooter in which a bomb was planted
NADEEM AKHTAR
Nadeem Akhtar Ashfaque Shaikh, aged 23, is a resident of Antop Hill, Mumbai, but originally hails from Deora Bandhauli, in Darbhanga district, Bihar. He was arrested on January 12, 2012, in the same SIM card forgery case Naqi was booked in. Akhtar is alleged to have ferried explosives from Delhi to Mumbai and stolen one of the scooters that had a bomb
HAROON NAIK
Haroon Rashid Naik, aged 33, is a resident of Mumbra in Thane, but originally hails from Beed, Maharashtra. Naik ran a cloth business in Kolkata and was arrested in a fake currency case in July 2011. A chargesheet filed by the ATS last November in that case says he travelled to Pakistan for arms training and wanted to avenge atrocities on Muslims. The ATS claims the training was arranged and funded by IM leader Riyaz Bhatkal. Naik allegedly collected funds for the attack in UAE and sent them to India. He was first arrested in connection with the fake currency case
KANWARNAI PATHRIJA
Kanwarnai Pathrija, aged 42, is a resident of Delhi and ran a jewellery store in the national capital’s Chandni Chowk area. As an alleged hawala operator, Pathrija handed over Rs 10 lakh that he had received from Naik to IM leader Yasin Bhatkal. In raids at Pathrija’s home in Ghaziabad, the ATS seized four diaries, a mobile phone and a broken SIM card. In one diary, cops said, were the records of hawala transactions of five years. Pathrija has been charged for aiding and abetting the blasts
PAK LINK
The police have shown the Zaveri Bazar and Opera House bomb planters as unnamed, but sources in the security agencies say they were two Pakistanis named Waqqas and Tabrez. They stayed at Habib Apartments, Byculla, where accommodation was allegedly arranged for them by Bhatkal and Naqi. They were reportedly in possession of fake Indian PAN cards, which they had shown when renting the flat
The Times of India, March 30, 2012
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