Bengaluru 2005 IISc blast: Gujarat ATS nabs accused on run for 12 years from Tripura

One retired professor was killed when the two attackers had hurled hand grenades and opened fired at the institute on Dec 28

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Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru

The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Friday arrested 35-year-old Habib Miyan, wanted in the 2005 attack on the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru, from Agartala in Tripura. He will be produced before a local court in Agartala on Saturday where the police would seek his transit remand in order to shift him to Karnataka for detailed interrogation, an official said.

The two attackers had hurled hand grenades and opened fired randomly at the institute when an international conference was underway on December 28. One retired professor was killed while four others had suffered injuries in the attack. In 2011, a court in Bangalore had convicted six of the accused. ATS sources said several accused were still at large and arrest warrants had been issued against them.

Besides, ATS officials said that Habib’s role was revealed in the statement of another accused, Sabahuddin, a resident of Patna, who is among the convicts. Sabahuddin had allegedly told the Bengaluru police that he was assisted by Habib in crossing over to Bangladesh at least twice during the planning of the attack.

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“We had kept surveillance and found his movement suspicious. After various attempts, we arrested him. This operation was jointly conducted by the Agartala police,” said Deputy Superintendent of Police, ATS, K K Patel, who led the operation, along with his two subordinates – inspector Nikhil Brahmbhatt and sub-inspector Chandrashekhar Panara – from Ahmedabad.

Patel said that Habib, a resident of Nobedpura at Jogindernagar in Agartala, had allegedly facilitated several accused to cross over to Bangladesh. He said one accused, Abdul Aziz, one of the masterminds, who continues to be absconding, was helped by Habib to cross over to Bangladesh after the terror attack.

According to ATS, Habib, who works as a plumber, also went to Bangladesh where he allegedly met Aziz in Chittagong. Habib has relatives in Bangladesh. Details of how Habib was associated with the Bengaluru terror attack or whether he had lived in the city were, however, not revealed.

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