A five-member team of the National Investigation Agency on Thursday raided several places in the Bihar's Darbhanga district in search of Indian Mujahideen founder Yasin Bhatkal, one of India's most wanted criminals wanted in connection with scores of terrorism cases, police officials said.
Believe it or not, but terror outfit Indian Mujahideen sent the operatives who successfully carried out the July 2011 blasts in Mumbai on a vacation to Goa!
Criminal jurisprudence is based on an interesting saying, "It is better that ten guilty persons escape than one innocent suffer." However, that does not seem to apply to the Maharashtra Anti Terrorist Squad. There are several instances to show that the agency has botched up its investigation, the latest being Pune Bakery blast main accused Himayat Baig.
A slip up by the Maharashtra Anti Terrorist Squad a year ago has proved to be a costly error for India's security establishment. The primary suspects behind Thursday's Hyderabad blasts -- Indian Mujahideen founder Yasin Bhatkal and operatives Tabrez and Waqas -- were staying under one roof in Mumbai. However, just minutes before the police could nab them they managed to slip out.
The Indian agencies managed yet another breakthrough in cracking the Indian Mujahideen when an operative from Sharjah was deported to India. The man in question is Faizan Ahmed Sultan alias Faizan Azmi, a resident of Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, who was allegedly working for the terror outfit from Sharjah.
Indian Mujahideen co-founder Riyaz Bhatkal not only used to send funds for terror acts across the country but also regularly provided money to families of the jailed and absconding operatives of the banned outfit, the NIA has told a special court in New Delhi.
The pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Yasin Malik went on a day-long hunger strike in Srinagar on Saturday to protest against the arrest of youth, including students, by the state police.
It would be good if all political parties understood the advantages, he said.
Thanks to their rich medal haul in the Guangzhou Asian Games, cueists Pankaj Advani, Alok Kumar and Yasin Merchant, among others, were on Sunday honoured at a felicitation programme organised by the Billiards & Snooker Federation of India (BSFI) and Karnataka State Billiards Association (KSBA).
Would have constructed Ram temple on 5 acre land if given to us: UP Shia Central Waqf Board
Asadullah Akhtar alias Tabrez, one of the prime suspects in the Hyderabad twin bomb blasts, was brought to the city on Thursday amid tight security.
A Delhi court on Tuesday extended till September 22 the National Investigation Agency custody of Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal after the probe agency said he was involved in "subversive activities" of causing bomb blasts in different parts of India since 2003.
India had to be content with a silver medal in the men's snooker team event at the ongoing Asian Games after losing their summit clash 1-3 to hosts China at the Town Gymnasium in Guangzhou on Monday.
Will the NIA 'get conviction' in Mecca Masjid blast, Ajmer Dargha blast and Malegaon blasts cases, he asked.
Indian Mujahideen had plotted to target cash-rich IPL and one of its operatives had surveyed the Wankhede Stadium here from inside during a T20 match in 2011 but the plan was aborted owing to tight security, a Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad officer said on Tuesday.
Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh has questioned the Bharatiya Janata Party's stand on Kashmir, in the backdrop of the recent meeting between journalist Ved Pratap Vaidik and Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed.
Yasin Bhatkal, the chief of terror outfit Indian Mujahideen who was recently arrested by Indian security agencies, came across as extremely bitter and disillusioned about his mentor -- the Inter Services Intelligence -- during his interrogation.
Investigating officials are taking Indian Mujahideen terrorist Tehsin Akhtar's claims with a healthy dose of salt, says Vicky Nanjappa
Given the nature of his job, a terrorist heading an underground organisation usually grooms a successor who is prepared to take over in case of his boss's arrest or demise.
Squashing erstwhile 'separatists', marginalising the 'mainstream', and squeezing funding channels have all evidently had an impact -- at least for the moment, notes David Devadas after a visit to Srinagar.
'We will continue to support Pakistan as we find no difference. They used to be Indians once upon a time, Yasin Bhatkal told his interrogators, even as Indian Mujahideen has largely transformed into a homegrown terror outfit with tacit support from across the border, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
Waqas Ahmed, better known as the Zaveri Bazaar bomber, spills the beans about the Indian Mujahideen's wicked plans. Vicky Nanjappa reports
The strike affected attendance in government offices and banks, the officials said.
The death of Indian Mujahideen-linked Anwar Beli, a former taxi driver in Dubai hailing from Bhatkal, in an encounter in Afghanistan is a pointer that more Indians are joining outfits like Al Qaeda, ISIS and Taliban, reports Vicky Nanjappa.Sources in the NIA tell Vicky Nanjappa/Rediff.com that for long the Indian Mujahideen has been looking to take the fight to Afghanistan, also informing about outfits like the Ansar ul-Tawhid which is helping terror outfits to recruit Indian youths.
The relationship between terror operatives and politicians is a murky one. Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa explores
Yasin, who had joined the outfit after deserting police as special police officer (SPO), was involved in the killing of ten minority community members at Dhar Sakri and six at Gabbar Budhal.
Acting on reports of the Intelligence Bureau about his movement, Delhi police had been hot on Tehsin's trail for a few weeks, says Vicky Nanjappa
Hailing the arrest of Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal as a big success for intelligence agencies, Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil on Thursday said a state Anti-Terrorism Squsad team would soon leave to interrogate him and seek his custody.
'IM has expanded its area of operations into Nepal, which is now the biggest hub for IM operatives.'
In a chilling revelation, Indian Mujahideen chief Yasin Bhatkal, who is currently in the custody of Delhi police, has told interrogators that the terror group was planning to use a small nuclear bomb while carrying out a devastating strike in the industrial city of Surat in Gujarat.
Further, 110 people have been arrested in connection with the incident at Pulakeshi Nagar in Bengaluru. Scores of persons, including around 50 policemen, were injured in the violence that erupted on Tuesday night and continued till the wee hours of Wednesday, apparently prompted by the 'communally sensitive' online post.
Statistics show the failure of the Bihar government in acting against Naxals in the state who are able to set up bases without much difficulty. Vicky Nanjappa reports
While officials of the National Investigation Agency are finding it hard to extract any information from Yasin Bhatkal, the wily chief of terror outfit Indian Mujahideen, his aide Asaddulah Akthar is singing like a canary.
Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal wanted to fight North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces in Afghanistan as an 18-year-old when the US launched its campaign against Taliban following the 9/11 attacks, investigators have said.
India's world snooker champion says the two cueists will be his main challengers at next month's Asian championships in Jordan.
After a series of raids by the National Investigative Agency on kashmiri separatists over the last two days, the authorities today prevented separatists from holding a meeting at residence of hardline Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Geelani, placing several leaders including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq under house arrest.
A startling disclosure by arrested Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal -- that his outfit carried out a reconnaissance of nearly a dozen spots in Mumbai in August -- has prompted Maharashtra police to beef up security.
Educational institutions, shops and business establishments remained closed across the Valley, while all kinds of transport remained off the roads due to the strike.
According to sources in the National Investigation Agency, four persons planned and executed the twin blasts in Hyderabad on February 21, which claimed 16 lives. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday objected to the presence of JKLF president Yasin Malik at a pro-Tamil Eeelam meeting by the Naam Tamizhar Katchi at Cuddalore in Chennai on Saturday.