Gujarat cops leave for J-K to seek Chand Khan’s custody

Police have already arrested five men from the Dariapur and Shapur areas of Ahmedabad as suspects in the Akshardham case last week and charged them under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). The five had allegedly provided logistic support to the fidayeen who carried out the attack on the temple and were gunned down by National Security Guards commandos.

Officers had also claimed that one of the suspects, Mufti Abdul Qayum Mansuri, had confessed to writing the identical notes found on the fidayeen.

While Gujarat police were crowing about their breakthrough in the case, complications arrived. The Jammu & Kashmir police claimed that, in fact, they had the man who orchestrated the Akshardham attack — Chand Khan of Uttar Pradesh, whom they had arrested more than a month ago.

And Khan told The Indian Express in a September 1 interview that after taking the fidayeen to Ahmedabad he had neither sought or obtained logistic support from locals.

At pains to juggle the contradiction, joint commissioner P.P. Pandey, refusing to divulge more details, said,‘‘We know the whole case.’’