Bhatkal carried out Dilsukhnagar blasts

Tells interrogators that he supplied explosives and acted at the behest of a Pakistani handler in February this year

New Delhi (PTI): Arrested Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal is alleged to have told interrogators that he received instructions from a Pakistani handler to carry out blast in Hyderabad in February this year, officials privy to his questioning said on Sunday.

30-year-old Yasin alis Syed Mohammed Ahmed Zarar Siddibapa reportedly told the interrogators that he had supplied explosive material to a person for planting at various locations in Dilsukhnagar near Cyberabad, adjacent to Hyderabad city, the officials claimed. Yasin, who is branded as the face of modern day terrorism, has told the sleuths of Intelligence Bureau during questioning that he had received instructions from Pakistani handler to target Cyberabad so that the foreign companies refrain from expanding their business in India, they said.

Two blasts rattled the Dilsukhnagar on February 21 this year killing 17 people and injuring over 100. About the Pune German Bakery blast on February 13, 2010, that had left 17 people dead including four foreigners, Yasin, according to the claims of his interrogators, said that he had planted the bomb in the shop which was frequented by many visitors.

The reason was to cause maximum damage and therefore the explosive material was placed near gas cylinders, Yasin is claimed to have told interrogators. A Pune court had on April 18, this year awarded death sentence to IM operative Himayat Baig in connection with the case. His lawyer A Rahman had said that though they respected the verdict, they would appeal against it in the Bombay High Court.

Yasin also gave details about his cousin Iqbal and Riyaz Bhatkal and said that they had not been coming to India. He said that Iqbal had visited Nepal earlier this year and was using satellite phone to talk too his masters in Pakistan. Wanted in around 40 blast cases and carrying a reward of Rs.35 lakh, Yasin was arrested from Indo-Nepal border on August 28. During his questioning earlier by Bihar police before being brought here, Yasin said he and his associate Asadulla Akhtar alias Haddi, used to take advantage of the porous Indo-Nepal border, 110 km of which lay in Bihar.

Yasin and Akhtar after their arrest from Nahar Chowk in Raxual sub-division of East Champaran district on Thursday told the police that they frequently travelled between the two countries without facing any problem. Local people said that one spent as little as Rs 35 to reach Birganj in Nepal from Raxual in Bihar, a distance of four km, by cycle-rickshaw. Though the District Level Coordination Committee meeting was scheduled every three months it mainly deliberated on issues concerning encroachment and border pillars. Vikram Singh Thakur, Commander of Sahastra Seema Bal, 13 battalion, entrusted with the security of the border for 110 km from Ghorasahan to Sikta in contiguous West Champaran district, told PTI, "free movement of people through the open border is indeed creating a problem."

Wanted to fight NATO forces

New Delhi (PTI): Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal wanted to fight NATO forces in Afghanistan as an 18-year-old when the US launched its campaign against Taliban following the 9/11 attacks, investigators here said. "Following the US attack on Afghanistan, he wanted to go and fight the allied forces there," said a senior Delhi police official. Known as the ghost bomber, Bhatkal was arrested on Thursday from Indo-Nepal border after being on the run for over five years in several countries.

The official, who has spent a significant time of his career investigating various terror cases across the country, said Bhatkal is "highly motivated" and "very ambitious" as he had set up a weapons manufacturing unit in Nangloi area of Outer Delhi way back in 2011. "He wanted to manufacture rocket launchers and LMGs (Light Machine Guns) in Delhi. This is evidence enough of how ambitious he is," the official said.