26.1.12

13/7 Mumbai blasts

The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Monday announced it has cracked the 13/7 blasts case, and arrested Delhi Police informer Naqui Ahmed and his aide Nadeem Shaikh for the conspiracy that led to 27 deaths. Naqui and Nadeem were in police custody since January 12 regarding the alleged fraudulent procurement of SIM cards. ATS said that Naqui and Nadeem had stolen two Activa scooters, which were fitted with explosives that went off in Zaveri Bazaar and Opera House. Naqui also helped Indian Mujahideen leader Yasin Bhatkal – the prime accused in the case - and his two aides find a house in the city from where the blasts were planned and executed, ATS said. The arrests have, however, thrown up more questions than answers, considering Naqui's association with Delhi Police. It was Naqui who helped the Central security agencies and Delhi Police's Special Cell in identifying the two Pakistanis – Waqas and Tabrez – suspected to have planted the explosives at Zaveri Bazar, Opera House and Kabutar Khana in Dadar. It was Naqui who told Delhi Police about the two Pakistanis' presence in the city even after the blasts. On Monday, ATS chief Rakesh Maria stuck to his stand that the two were not in Mumbai in the first week of January, as claimed by Delhi Police. He was in the custody of Delhi Police for at least three weeks. How come he didn’t tell them what ATS now claims he has revealed? While brushing aside competition with Delhi Police, ATS sources said that Naqui may have agreed to help the former by identifying the house in Byculla where Bhatkal and his aides resided, but he lied about his role in the 13/7 conspiracy. Besides Naqui and Nadeem, Mumbra resident Haroon Rashid Naik (33), who was arrested in a fake currency case last August, has been shown as the third suspect in the case. Besides Bhatkal, Maria said that there were two others who were the key conspirators, but refused to confirm whether they were Waqas and Tabrez. He just mentioned them as "A and B."
Maria said that Bhatkal and his two aides (A and B) planned the bombing, and assembled the explosives. Naqui was involved from the very beginning; it was he who collected Rs 1.5 lakh from Bhatkal, and delivered the money to A and B in Mumbai, ATS sources said. Nadeem, who was Naqui's friend in Delhi, and who resided in Antop Hill in Mumbai, went to Delhi on Bhatkal's instructions. There, he collected a packet containing explosives, detonators and timers, which he brought to Mumbai. Naqui also helped Bhatkal rent a one-room flat in Habib Building, Byculla. It was in this flat that the two Pakistanis resided for almost a year. Two to three apartments were rejected before finalising the Habib building quarters and Naqui paid for it, Maria said. "He (Naqui) aided and abetted in the conspiracy, and reports claiming his innocence are untrue," Maria said. ATS said that Naqui enrolled in a gymnasium at Kumbharwada in Kalbadevi, barely a km from Zaveri Bazar, to facilitate recee of the targeted sites. "His timings at the gymnasium, between 7 pm and 8 pm, coincided with the blasts' time," an ATS officer said. The two scooters Naqui allegedly stole – from Khadilkar Road in Girgaon and the other from the premises close to Hurkisondas Hospital in Charni Road – were used in the Zaveri Bazar and Opera House blasts, Maria said. “The signed helmet of one of the scooter owners was recovered from the Habib Building flat,” he said. ATS also found Naqui and Nadeem's clothes.
Maria said hours were spent going through every slide of CCTV footage captured on 180 cameras. Forty officers; and more than 100 men travelled to 18 states, examining 12,373 witnesses. They got a breakthrough in August, when ATS got a wind of the financial trail of the conspiracy. The trail led them to Haroon Naik, who confessed to a large amount of money that had reached Mumbai for the blast, ATS sources said. Another breakthrough was achieved in November, when ATS got hold of a photograph of a man suspected to have planted the explosives. The picture was circulated among informers in Mumbai, and one of them reported he had seen the suspect in Madanpura. That suspect was Naqui. On December 2, the cops reached Darbangha in Bihar, tracking him, where they came to know about Nadeem's role. The probe also busted a racket involving procurement of SIM cards using fake documents. ATS alleged that the SIM cards were passed on by Naqui and Nadeem to Bhatkal and the other two conspirators. ATS said in the first week of January, they came to know that Naqui had stolen four vehicles in Mumbai (two of which were used in the 13/7 blasts). “We recovered a helmet that belonged to one of the vehicle owners from the Habib Building flat, and also duplicate keys. In the second week of January, we recovered two motorbikes from Naqui's house in Darbangha. Both bikes were stolen from Dongri,” an ATS source said. Maria said that there was no truth whatsoever in the claims that Bhatkal and his two aides were in Mumbai after the blasts. “Yasin Bhatkal was in Mumbai in July, and has not returned since. The two conspirators escaped by November end, around the time seven Indian Mujahideen suspects were arrested by Delhi Police. Do you think the suspects would come to Mumbai to collect the lease deposit on the flat?” Maria asked. Refuting allegations that ATS botched up Delhi Police's operation to nab the two Pakistanis, Maria said there was no lack in coordination. “There will be competition among different teams, but that does not mean we have differences or we spoilt their operation,” he said.

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