NEW DELHI : Indian Mujahideen (IM) co-founder Yasin Bhatkal’s close aide Mohd Manjer Imam was today arrested in a fresh case by the NIA inside a Delhi court in connection with terror strikes across the country since 2003 and remanded to 15-day police custody.
Imam was produced before District Judge I S Mehta from Ernakulam in Kerala in pursuance to the production warrant issued against him and the NIA sought his custodial interrogation to unearth the entire conspiracy which led to various terror strikes in the country.
Imam was arrested by the NIA after the court allowed its plea and granted the probe agency his 15-day custody.
“During his (Bhatkal) custodial examination, he (Bhatkal) revealed that another IM operative namely Manjer Imam has been working closely with other IM associates like Tahseen Akhtar under the command of another founder member of IM namely Riyaz Bhatkal,” the NIA said.
The probe agency also referred to the chat communications between IM founders Yasin and Riyaz and said that during the investigation, it has come out that Imam was working for the banned terror outfit under the instructions of Riyaz and others.
“Investigation has revealed that the accused (Imam) has played a significant role in the conspiracy of IM and is associated with other IM operatives. It has been revealed that the accused person has also stayed with other IM operatives, at various places in India and is having explicit knowledge about the hide outs of other IM operatives and their locations,” the agency said.
NIA said Imam’s detailed interrogation was required to unearth the details of “larger conspiracy hatched” by IM operatives.
The court allowed the NIA’s plea and remanded Imam to police custody till October 15.
Earlier, on September 21, the court had allowed a similar plea of NIA to arrest Bhatkal in a fresh case in connection with February 2013 Dilsukhnagar blasts. Bhatkal was earlier arrested in connection with the case for carrying out various terror strikes in the country.
On September 17, the court had also allowed the plea of NIA Hyderabad to formally arrest Bhatkal’s another close aide Asadullah Akhtar in connection with February 2013 Dilsukhnagar blasts. Akhtar was also arrested earlier in the case lodged for carrying out various terror strikes in the country.
The NIA had taken Bhatkal’s custody saying that he was involved in “subversive activities” of causing bomb blasts in different parts of India since 2003.
It had also told the court that Bhatkal had associates in Pakistan, Nepal and Middle East who were also involved in the case and more information regarding them have to be ascertained during his custodial interrogation.
According to the NIA, Bhatkal, wanted in around 40 terror cases and carrying a reward of Rs 35 lakh, and Akhtar were arrested from the Indo-Nepal border on the night of August 28.
Bhatkal was among the “principal conspirators” and “executors” of various terror attacks in India, the NIA has said in its charge sheet filed in a Delhi court in August.
Bhatkal, who hails from Bhatkal village of Udupi district in North Karnataka, is wanted in a string of terror attacks in Ahmedabad, Surat, Bangalore, Pune, Delhi and Hyderabad, the agency said.
30-year-old Bhatkal, who was earlier associated with banned outfit Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), is suspected to have hatched a conspiracy with others to wage war against India.
Bhatkal and Akhtar were among the 12 top IM members listed as absconders in the 42-page charge sheet against arrested accused Mohammad Danish Ansari, Mohammad Aftab Alam, Imran Khan, Syed Maqbool and Obaid-Ur-Rehman under various penal provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and the IPC for conspiracy to commit offences against the state.
The NIA has said IM, which was banned by the Centre on June 22, 2009, was involved in November 23, 2007 blasts in courts of Varanasi, Faizabad and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, Varanasi blast of July 11, 2006, Mumbai serial blasts of July 11, 2006 and Hyderabad twin blasts of August 25, 2007.
Besides this, Jaipur blast of May 13, 2008, Ahmedabad serial blasts of July 26, 2008, September 13, 2008 serial blasts in Delhi, Pune’s German Bakery blast in February 2010, Chinnaswami stadium blast in Bangalore on April 17, 2010 and Mumbai serial blasts of July 13, 2011 were also allegedly carried out by IM, the NIA has said. (PTI)
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