Prepared for a long haul, the security agencies have questioned Mohammed Sadique Israr Sheikh, co-founder of the Indian Mujahideen (IM), in Ahmedabad jail after another founding member, Aftab Ansari, told his interrogators in Kolkata that Sheikh had passed on a message to his colleagues that “something was expected in Mumbai in July”.
Even as Sadique Sheikh, the link between the IM module in Cheetah Camp, Trombay, and Azamgarh in the past decade, was questioned by the agencies this week, the needle of suspicion is on the Mumbai module of the IM and the remnants of Qayamuddin Kapadia group in Vadodara for the July 13 serial bombings. The first tip to the police regarding Sheikh came from Ansari, the main accused in the American Centre bombing at Kolkata, as the agencies rushed to question the incarcerated IM leaders, including RDX courier Jalaluddin Mullah aka Babu Bhai in Lucknow jail. Both Ansari and Sheikh (called Sadaqat in Kolkata attack) were partners in terror with Amir Raza Khan.
The agencies are painstakingly putting in the pieces as even the bomb blasts at Sheetla Ghat (December 6, 2010) in Varanasi and Jama Masjid (September 19, 2010) have links with Mumbai. Both the IM mails received after the two incidents last year were found to be sent from Mumbai using mobile phone-based internet platforms using Norway-based servers. The SIM cards in both the cases were purchased in Mumbai, using fake addresses and ID cards.
Although the investigators are foxed over absence of e-mail from IM this time, they are closely looking at the possible involvement of Juhapura, Ahmedabad, residents Alamzeb Afridi, Mujeeb and Abdus Subhan Qureshi, the man who linked the Ahmedabad group with Riyaz Bhatkal. In this context, Qureshi’s Mumbai friend Abu Faisal, resident of Juhu chawl, has been questioned. Faisal was arrested by the Madhya Pradesh ATS on June 26 for an aborted SIMI plot to target Allahabad High Court judges who gave the Ayodhya judgment last year.
While the investigators are convinced that the bomb planters on 13/7 were locals, there is little by the way of technical inputs to substantiate the claim as terrorists these days use internet to internet skype facility, thus making the interception not possible. The CCTV footage has not been of much help due to the crowded areas with only heads visible. The monsoon showers on 13/7 washed away a lot of clues but Gujarat Forensic Science Laboratory report has confirmed that it was an ammonium nitrate fuel oil bomb with commercial detonator and a timer. The timer remains were not found but in all probability a clock timer was used and the circuit found on one of the victims was that of a cellphone. The National Security Guards report varied only on a point that TNT was used as a booster charge.
There was one significant lead about the bomb being planted in an Activa scooter of one Jayant Dholeybhai Shah, a resident of South Mumbai, in the Zaveri Bazaar blast. It now transpires that Shah, a dealer in hardware, had given his scooter to his employee Arjun Choudhary and left for Ahmedabad on July 8, 2011. Choudhary on July 15 filed a complaint with Vitalbhai police station stating that his scooter was stolen on July 12, 2011 — a day before the blast. Both Shah and Choudhary have been questioned by the Mumbai ATS, but no fresh leads have been found
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