ATS probed Pune blast,stumbled on Riyaz,Latif

In a 650-page chargesheet filed against the duo last week,the police have compiled over 10 conversations Latif and Riyaz had with their Pakistan-based handler. The chargesheet also says that on March 6,following a sanction order from Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Chandra Iyengar,two mobile numbers registered under Latif’s and Riyaz’s names were tracked as the ATS suspected the duo to be involved in the Pune blast case.

However,after tracking their calls for over a week,the team unearthed another alleged conspiracy that the duo were planning along with an accomplice,allegedly Shaikh’s relative,Khan Bashir Ahmed Ainul Haq Khan,who is also a fugitive in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.

Latif and Riyaz have been booked under several sections of the stringent Unlawful Activties (Prevention) Act (UAPA),for planning terror attacks at the three locations in Mumbai.

Recordings of the phone calls that ATS began tracking since March 5 contain conversations between Khan,addressed as “uncle”,and Latif,in which they allegedly discuss plans to burn down the ONGC administrative office in Bandra (East). According to the chargesheet,on March 9,Latif called up Khan in Pakistan. Khan allegedly asked if Latif can do something to destroy the ONGC office. “Tum kya kar sakte ho ONGC ka (What can you do with ONGC building),” Khan asked Latif. “Aap chahe to uda doon ya phir jalaa doon (I can bomb the building or even burn it down if you say),” replied Latif.

Along with the statements of three men who were allegedly asked to prepare passports to go to Pakistan via Dubai,the police have put together testimony of over 60 independent witnesses in the chargsheet.

Defence lawyer Khalid Azmi said,“We will move a bail application early next week. The two had been behind bars for three months now. Both are innocent and falsely implicated in the case. The ATS has not been able to prove that the two planned to carry out terror attacks in the city.”

Laden,Dawood & ‘uncle’
* A witness who had allegedly brokered a house for Riyaz,has given a statement to the ATS claiming that Riyaz,whenever he saw Osama bin Laden on television,would praise him to be one of a smartest men. He would refer to him as “Laden chacha”.
* Riyaz also considered underworld don Dawood Ibrahim as a messiah of Muslims,the witness claims in his statement.
* Another witness and Latif’s friend,in his statement,has claimed that he was recruiting men to be sent to Pakistan for military training. The witness also claims to have had a convestaion with Latif wherein he had boasted to be the nephew of a fugitive in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case. “My uncle lives in Pakistan and he has been asking me to leave India and come over to Pakistan for terror activities,” Latif had allegedly told the witness.