Lucknow-Kanpur module of IS: Ex-IAF man was inclined towards jihad in India, convinced others, says NIA

A third bomb was made by the group in a plastic bottle and planted at Ghatampur Road beside the railway line. It was to be put in a busy square of Kanpur, but the group did not succeed. “Ghaus was aware of all these attempts,” the chargesheet says.

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Explosion in 59320 Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train. (Source: ANI)

The self-proclaimed Lucknow-Kanpur module of the Islamic State, which on May 7 allegedly carried out a blast on a Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train, may have been headed by Kanpur resident Atif Muzaffar, but its plans to carry out attacks in India were allegedly hatched by a former Indian Air Force man from Kannauj. An NIA chargesheet filed in a special court in Bhopal says that it was Ghaus Mohammed who motivated the group of eight people to carry out attacks in India rather than join the IS war in Syria. He allegedly oversaw the manufacturing of five bombs by the group which were planted at various places over six months.

The once Barelvi Muslim-turned-Ahle-Hadith follower allegedly convinced the group that going from Kanpur to Lucknow for the cause of jihad was ‘Hijrath’ (migration). “They (accused) were very serious about Hizrat and A4 (Ghaus) had once accompanied A1 (Atif) to Kolkata and Sunderbans to find a way to leave for Syria. A4, however, was more inclined towards doing jihad in India and he always tried his best to convince others to do jihad in India. In fact, it was his idea that moving from Kanpur to Lucknow was also Hijrat for jihad; which is how all the accused established their hideout in Lucknow,” the chargesheet says.

It was in Lucknow that, hours after the train blast that left 10 passengers injured on May 7, one of the accused, Saifullah, was engaged in a gunbattle with UP ATS at his hideout. Saifullah was eventually killed and police recovered arms and bomb-making material from the hideout. Ghaus had introduced Saifullah and others in the group to the landlord as his nephews. The chargesheet says that Ghaus worked with the IAF in Punjab but later retired and went to Saudi Arabia for work between 1996-98. It was here that he was influenced by Ahl-e-Hadith, the chargesheet says. It was through his son Adil that he came in contact with others in the group.

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Later, Ghaus not only took oath of allegiance to the IS but allegedly oversaw assembly of bombs and choosing of targets. According to the chargesheet, in August 2006, Atif allegedly carried out the first trial of a blast at his home at Katripiparkheda in Jajmau, Kanpur. Next month he assembled another bomb in a pipe, which was exploded in an open field. A third bomb was made by the group in a plastic bottle and planted at Ghatampur Road beside the railway line. It was to be put in a busy square of Kanpur, but the group did not succeed. “Ghaus was aware of all these attempts,” the chargesheet says. In the first week of October, it says, the group allegedly made another bomb that was transported from Kanpur to Lucknow by Ghaus on his bike. On October 11, Atif and another associate allegedly planted this bomb at Ramlila grounds in Lucknow. No one was injured in these blasts.

“Atif made a fifth bomb in the second week of December to use against Bara Rabi-al-Alwal, which is a Barelvi rally. He made the bomb with a six-inch pipe and took it to Unnao… This didn’t explode. Later the bomb was retrieved and Atif kept it in his house in Kanpur…,” the chargesheet says, adding that the bomb was modified and used in the Bhopal-Ujjain train. After planting the bomb in the train, the accused allegedly took a picture of it and sent it to an online entity through Telegram for further transmission to IS.

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