ATS names 13/7 bomb planters

It claims that one of India’s most wanted terrorists,Mohammed Ahmed Siddibappa alias Yasin Bhatkal,assumed a “Hindu” identity,“Shivanand”, to smoothly manage Hawala operations in Mumbai and to accept a delivery of Rs 10 lakh allegedly used to finance the blasts. The chargesheet names four arrested accused,Naquee Ahmed Wasi Ahmed Shaikh (22),Nadim Akhtar Ashfaque Shaikh (23),Kawalnayan Vazirchand Pathreja (46),Haroon Rashid Naik (33),and six wanted suspects. The three blasts have been clubbed into a comprehensive case after the probe found a “common thread of criminal conspiracy and similar explosives”,according to Rakesh Maria,Additional Director General of Police,ATS.

According to the chargesheet,a detailed analysis of suspicious mobile numbers revealed that Yasin,a wanted accused and a known Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative had been in touch with a hawala operator from Mumbai. The agency,on interrogating the operator and his associates found that the calls were from Dubai and directions had been given on phone to deliver the money to Shivanand. The ATS states that the money was routed through another wanted accused in the case Muzaffar Kola,a hawala operator originally from Bhatkal,and was handed over to Shivanand by Pathreja. These transactions were allegedly done at the behest of Naik. Kola’s name had also emerged as a channel for transacting the ransom of Rs 3 crore for Aasif Reza Khan of the IM in the Roy Burman kidnapping case of 2003.

Yasin,a wanted accused in almost all blasts linked to IM,allegedly provided logistic support and played the role of key recruiter. The ATS believes he operated using at least five aliases; Siddibappa,Shivanand,Mohammad Zarar,Ahmed Imran and Yasin. The blast conspiracy was allegedly hatched outside the border.

The ATS chargesheet states he had been interacting with at least 10-12 young Muslim men from Darbhanga in Bihar and adjoining areas and had tried to indoctrinate them with inflammatory and provocative speeches on the pretext of “Darz”,which in Urdu means “to teach” or “deliver lectures”. All his lectures were conducted at one Saifyia Madarsa in Darbhanga.

The revelations were made by Abdul Wahab,an accused in the case arrested in a separate case of a SIM card forgery,and who knew Naquee Shaikh,arrested in the serial blasts case.

The chargesheet states that 19 of the of 641 witnesses have identified the accused and their statements have been mentioned in the chargesheet. Their identities have not been revealed to protect them.

The ATS,while seizing a safehouse Habib Manzil in Mumbai,had also seized Naquee’s jeans allegedly with his semen sample that helped investigators to get his DNA and nail his presence at the conspiracy meetings in the house where samples of TNT and RDX were found.

While roles of Yasin,Haroon and Nadeem and Naquee are fairly etched,the role of Mohammed Kafeel Ansari (55) of Darbhanga is still being probed. “We will file his name in the supplementary chargesheet. We got his custody from May 19 to May 29 through a transit warrant. He is wanted for providing logistical support and accommodation other than that already known,” said Maria.