2 yrs after attack, cops stuck on case

The court has declared the 26 others named in the case ‘‘proclaimed offenders’’. Security and intelligence agencies believe that at least 15 of them — including eight from Gujarat — are now in Saudi Arabia.

Investigators and intelligence agencies had named Manzoor Zaheed Chaudhary hailing from J-K as the mastermind of the attack. They said this LeT area commander had selected Akshardham as a target to retaliate for the post-Godhra killings of Muslims. He had also arranged for the weapons and selected the fidayeen who carried it out.

Chaudhary was reportedly killed last year in an encounter in J-K. As for the others, police have given details of what exactly they did to help organise the attack, and know most of them are in Saudi Arabia. The 1,760-page chargesheet filed by Assistant Commissioner Girish Singhal of the Detection of Crime Branch says the following eight absconders are from Gujarat: Farooq Mohd Hanif Sheikh, Abdul Rashid Suleman Ajmeri, Adam Suleman Ajmeri, Mohd Uvesh Qadri, Majid Patel, Iqbal Patel, Ghulam Lehri and a 35-year-old man.

The others named in the case include alleged ISI operatives based in the Gulf. Also absconding is Yaseen Bhat, an LeT local commander roped in by Chaudhary. Bhat is said to have arranged for getting the arms and the fidayeen to Ahmedabad with help from one Chand Khan and others. He was arrested by J-K police in February. But by the time DCB sent a team to get him six months later, he had obtained bail and gone underground.

In fact, since the time Chand Khan was brought to Ahmedabad in October last year from Srinagar— where he had been arrested by J-K police — none of the absconding accused have been arrested.