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4 ISI agents arrested in Hyderabad

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

The Hyderabad police has arrested four ISI agents operating in Andhra Pradesh.

Announcing this late on Monday night, city Police Commissioner S R Sukumara identified the arrested youth as Manikna Prakash Rao alias Maaz (aged 21 years), Mirza Qasim Baig (23), Mohammed Afsar (23) and Mirza Ahmed Abdul Basheer Baig (20). The men -- members of the Indian Muslim Mohammedi Mujahideen, a front of the Lashkar-e-Toiba -- were allegedly involved in the recent bomb blasts in Hyderabad, Metpally and Nanded. Prakash Rao and Qasim Baig were also involved in the killing of city jeweller Mahaveer Prasad Modi.

The commissioner said Prakash, a Christian at birth, converted to Islam a year ago and changed his name to Mohammed Maaz. He was lured into the IMMM by Shafique and Mujahid when they met at a mosque at Chandrayangutta. Maaz was inspired by the duo to participate in jehad and became a follower of Azam Ghori of the Lashkar-e-Toiba.

Maaz helped the organisation by making bombs at Balapur with Sadiq's help. One such bomb was thrown at Modi's Siddiamber Bazar jewellery shop before the jeweller's murder.

The interrogation of Maaz, a resident of Chandrayangutta, led to the arrest of Qasim Baig, a resident of Bhainsa town in Adilabad district. Baig confessed that Azam Ghori, the kingpin of Lashkar-e-Toiba operations in Andhra Pradesh, organised a contract killing in Vijayawada in August 1999. Another murder was committed in Bodhan town in Nizamabad district.

Sukumara said Afsar and Basheer Baig, both residents of Nizamabad, acted as a conduit between Azam Ghori, the mastermind behind ISI activities who was killed by the police in an encounter at Jagtial town in Karimnagar district on April 6.

The police seized IMMM letterheads and other provocative literature, explosive material and electronic detonators from the arrested men. The accused have been remanded to judicial custody.

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