The Anti-Terrorism Squad has dispatched a team to Delhi after the special cell arrested Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative Salah Abdalli, alias Israr, on Friday. ATS officials said that Yasin Bhatkal lived with Israr in November last year, after escaping a raid by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Delhi police in Chennai.
According to officers, Israr is an important catch. His whose detailed interrogation might provide leads on Yasin’s whereabouts. Israr’s name had cropped up during interrogation of Tariq Ahmed, who was arrested last week by the Delhi police’s special cell. “The IB and the Delhi police had raided a place in Chennai, where Yasin was supposedly hiding last year. Yasin started staying with Israr, an IM operative in Unnav in Uttar Pradesh,” said a ATS source.
According to the source, after the Batla House encounter in Delhi in 2008, Israr, who was originally from Barabanki in UP, shifted his base. “Israr started giving English tuitions to school children, but was aware of all the IM activities. Yasin stayed with him through November last year,” he said.
The source said that Tariq spilled the beans on Israr. “In 2008, Riyaz Bhatkal, his brothers Iqbal and Yasin were hiding in Tariq’s house,” he added.
after the Maharashtra ATS raided their house in Bhatkal village in Karnataka. It was here that Tariq introduced Israr to the group,” he added.
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4 ncp workers electrocuted
Umesh Mohite
Mumbai, Feb. 12
Four young workers of the Nationalist Congress Party died of electrocution during a civic election rally in Kalwa on Sunday. The victims who had participated in the campaign of the party’s sitting corporator Mahesh Salvi, got electrocuted when an iron flag mast carried by one of them came in contact with a high-tension overhead wire.
Pradeep, alias Pappu Gupta, Ajay alias Anna Rajput, Ashok Rajput and Ajay Gupta died at around 12 pm. The four youths were getting ready for Mr Salvi’s campaign, when the incident occurred just outside the party office at Kalwa.
“They were all participating in the campaign, when one of them carrying a flag got stuck to the live wire. Unaware of what had happened, the other victims tried to get him out, and also got electrocuted in the process,” said MLA Jitendra Awhad, who reached the spot immediately after the mishap. He added, “It was a sad incident. It is difficult to console bereaved relatives.”