Yasin Bhatkal, co-founder of the banned terror outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM), who was arrested from the Indo-Nepal border in North Bihar on Wednesday, is the third big catch for the central agencies in the recent past after Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) mastermind Abdul Karim Tunda and 26/11 Mumbai attacks key plotter Abu Jundal.
Yasin was nabbed in a joint operation by intelligence agencies and Bihar police. He was arrested along with another IM leader Asadulla Akhtar alias “Haddi”. Bhatkal, wanted in around 40 blast cases, was carrying a reward of `35 lakh.
Sources in the central agencies said: “Yasin and Akhtar will be flown to Delhi on Friday in a special plane and formally handed over to the NIA. His interrogation will provide vital clues to the central agencies, especially regarding LeT’s terror plan. Besides, his interrogation will also help in tracing the whereabouts of other absconding IM militants — involved in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Surat, Pune and Jaipur serial blasts”.
Bhatkal is also suspected to have played an active role in the 2006 Mumbai serial train blasts that left 187 people dead.
Yasin, also wanted in the German Bakery bomb blast in Pune on February 13, 2010, that left 17 dead, formed IM with his brother Riyaz and associates Riyaz Shahbandri, Abdul Subhan Qureshi, Sadiq Israr Sheikh and gangster-turned terrorist Amir Reza Khan.
He was a trained engineer and grew as an explosives expert. The IM, patronised by Pakistan-based LeT, was designated a terrorist group by the government under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act in June, 2010.
The banned outfit was declared by the US as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation in 2011.
Reacting to the arrest of the 30-year-old Yasin, Union minister of state for home R.P.N. Singh, said: “Bhatkal was a bigger terrorist than LeT operative Abdul Karim Tunda, arrested by the Delhi police recently. I take this opportunity to once again congratulate central agencies after we arrested Tunda and again we have apprehended a bigger terrorist. I once again reiterate our commitment to fight against terrorists.”
I hope there will be no politics as far as terror is concerned, Mr Singh added.