ATS visits Bhatkal to quiz Abduls friends

Even as Abdul Samad Mohammed Zarar's (22) police custody in the arms case ends on Tuesday,a two-member team of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad has taken statements from his friends in his hometown Bhatkal in Karnataka.

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Even as Abdul Samad Mohammed Zarar’s (22) police custody in the arms case ends on Tuesday,a two-member team of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has taken statements from his friends in his hometown Bhatkal in Karnataka.

Although the police had not mentioned the Pune blast case while seeking his remand,the ATS officials,it was learnt,have been seeking information from people at Bhatkal on the whereabouts of Abdul on February 13,the day of the blast at the German Bakery.

Abdul,the younger brother of Ahmed Mohammed Zarar Siddibapa (27) alias Yasin Bhatkal–the suspected bomb-maker in the Indian Mujahideen networ–¿has not been officially named in the Pune blast case.

Although the family maintained that Abdul has “been out of touch” with Yasin and was hosting his cousin’s post-wedding party at Jali Beach in Bhatkal on the said date,the ATS is believed to have established,through “technical evidence” that he left Bhatkal for Bangalore in the early hours of February 13.

When contacted,Abdul’s uncle Yakub Shamshuddin said an ATS team had visited some of Abdul’s friends in Bhatkal and also his classmates from his college days. “I cannot speak anything more. You may contact our lawyer,” he said.

Samad only a suspect in blast: PC
Having recently complimented the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad,the Pune police and Central agencies for apprehending Abdul Samad,the prime suspect behind the February 13 bomb blast in German Bakery in Pune within 100 days of the incident,Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today sought to clarify that Samad is only a suspect and this information should be treated with circumspection.

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