The First Information Report registered by the ATS also named Anees Ibrahim, Dawood's younger brother and another fugitive.
The 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case, spanning nearly 17 years, was marked by changes in investigating agencies and five different judges, contributing to significant delays, according to victims and accused.
A detailed timeline of the 2008 Malegaon blasts case, from the initial explosion to the acquittal of all accused in 2025.
The investigation for 7/11 blast in which 189 people died was under question mark from the very first month after the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad started arresting the accused from different parts of city. Within 10 days of blast by July 22, 2006, ATS arrested all the 13 terror accused in the case under the leadership of ATS chief, K P Raghuvanshi.
Earlier, Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad arrested one person from Pune for giving shelter to both the suspected terrorists.
Special NIA court judge AK Lahoti, conducting trial in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, has been transferred to Nashik just days before the court was likely to reserve the matter for judgement. The transfer order, issued by the registrar general of the Bombay High Court, will come into effect on June 9. The order directs the judge to finish judgments in all cases where hearing has concluded and to dispose of part-heard cases before handing over charge. In the last hearing on Saturday, judge Lahoti directed the prosecution and defense to wrap up the remaining arguments by April 15 and was expected to reserve the matter for judgement the following day, a defense lawyer said.
Nazir Ahmed Wani, the main accused in the 1993 Deoband bomb blasts, has been arrested in Srinagar after evading capture for 31 years. Wani, wanted for his involvement in the bomb attacks, was arrested by a joint operation of the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and local police. The blasts occurred during communal violence in Deoband following the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992.
Three security establishments in Nashik including army's Deolali camp were recceed by arrested Lashkar-e-Tayiba terror suspect Shaikh Lalbaba Mohammed Hussain for a Lahore Police Academy-type attack, Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad said on Monday.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said the arrest of Kurulkar is a "very serious matter" and alleged that it exposes the "anti-national face" of the RSS.
'We were sitting inside the shop when suddenly there was a loud blast. People were startled and items of shops were scattered all over the road'
They were in police custody till Thursday and were produced before the Mazgaon court, where the ATS sought their further remand to interrogate them and ascertain the identity of the 'uncle', who was instructing them from Pakistan.
The RSS on Saturday served a legal notice to Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh over his controversial remarks about Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare, who was killed in the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai. Demanding an unconditional apology from him for the 'unsubstantiated remarks', the notice warns him of legal action under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for promoting enmity between communities, deliberately outraging religious feelings.
A local court in Nashik on Tuesday extended the police custody of alleged Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative Shaikh Lalbaba Mohammed Hussain alias Bilal, nabbed by Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad in Nashik last week.
Four youths with suspected terror links who were allegedly conspiring to strike in the mela area were held by a joint team of Delhi Police Special Cell and Uttarakhand police on Tuesday night from Manglour town in Haridwar district.
A local court on Tuesday extended the judicial custody of two terror suspects Abdul Latif Rashid and Riyaz Ali Imtiaz till April 27. The duo was arrested by the Anti-Terrorism Squad on March 13 for allegedly planning to carry out terror attacks in the metropolis.
The police remand of two arrested terror suspects Abdul Latif Rashid and Riyaz Ali Imtiaz was on Friday extended till April 1 after the Anti-Terrorism Squad sought their custody. The duo was arrested by the ATS on March 13 for allegedly planning to carry out terror attacks in the metropolis. According to the ATS, the duo was in touch with a person in Pakistan addressed as 'uncle', who is suspected to be Abdul Bashir Khan, an absconding accused in the 1993 serial bomb blasts.
The Anti-Terrorism Squad of the Maharashtra police on Wednesday told the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court in Mumbai that the Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative and a key 26/11 handler Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal was involved in terror activities since as far back as 1996.
Nashik has become a crucial centre for terrorists, say sources in Mumbai's Anti-Terrorism Squad, after interrogating the two terror suspects arrested in connection with the German bakery blast. One of the accused admitted that he had conducted a reconnaissance of a few security establishments in the city. Groups like the Lashkar-e-Tayiba have been trying to set up base in Nashik. One of the reasons is to strengthen their hold over Maharashtra.
Two suspects arrested for allegedly plotting terror strikes on ONCG headquarters and two markets in prime areas in Mumbai had received money from a Pakistani national based in Dubai through a UAE financial firm, says the chargesheet filed by Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in a local court.
"The inputs given by the agency (IB) also include some dates, on which, it says the terrorists were planning to carry out strikes on some vital locations. Of these dates, two dates have passed," the official added.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday chose to remain ambivalent on his government's stand on the National Counter Terrorism Centre, but asserted that the anti-terror squad in UP is already doing a good job in tackling terrorism.
Investigators on Tuesday said that they think at least six newly recruited terrorists could have been involved in placing explosives in the triple bombings. However, there has been no breakthrough in the probe nearly a week after the attack.
Four years after his arrest, Haj House Imam Ghulam Yahya Baksh, accused of harbouring three militants and having links with terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba, was on Saturday acquitted by a sessions court due to lack of evidence. The Anti-Terrorism Squad had on January 14, 2006 arrested Baksh, 47, who was working as an Imam at the Haj House in south Mumbai since 1996. He was accused of providing shelter to three alleged militants from Jammu and Kashmir.
Four persons, including a woman, who were held in Surat on Friday on suspicion of being terror suspects wanted by the Mumbai police, were released on Tuesday after it was verified that they were not the same whose sketches were released last week.
'Regrettably, the UPA government seems to be caving in to pressures from the BJP to adopt a macho, national-chauvinist, to-hell-with-civil-liberties stance to show that it has the will to fight terrorism.'
The Nagpur district court on Monday handed life imprisonment to former BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd engineer Nishant Agarwal under the Official Secrets Act for spying for Pakistan's intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Extending 'wholehearted support to the government' and calling upon the country to rise as one man to defeat the terrorists' intentions, RSS chief K S Sudarshan paid homage to Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare, noted encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar, and Additional Commissioner Ashok Kamte Ashok Kamte -- who were killed in the terrorist attack.
The Bombay High Court has discontinued its monitoring of the investigation into the 2015 murder of communist leader and rationalist writer Govind Pansare, directing the sessions court to expedite the ongoing trial. The decision comes after a report by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) indicated that the investigation has been thoroughly conducted, with only the arrest of two absconding accused remaining. The court has ordered daily hearings for the trial, which has already begun and has seen 28 prosecution witnesses examined as of December 16, 2024.
With the arrest of a Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist from Uttar Pradesh who had done a recce of a dozen sensitive targets in Mumbai, the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad fears three or more terror modules could be operating in the financial capital and newer strategies will have to be devised for busting them.
Local people prevented the police from reaching the site immediately after the blast and it could have been done to shield the accused, said Thakur's lawyer, advocate JP Mishra.
Former Mumbai police commissioner A N Roy expressed shock over the Bombay High Court's acquittal of all 12 accused in the 7/11 train blasts case, defending the police investigation and expressing confidence in an appeal to the Supreme Court.
The Bombay High Court acquitted all 12 accused in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case, citing a failure by the prosecution to prove their guilt and raising serious concerns about the investigation and evidence presented.
The Mumbai ATS should investigate the blasts thoroughly and need not hesitate to have a second look at the Samjhauta Express explosions, but they should do it in a professional manner, not in a manner that adds to suspicions that the investigation has taken a pre-election political turn -- with the objective being to fix the Hindu nationalists and not to fix the terrorists, says B Raman
The interrogation of Pune blast suspect Abdul Sammad Bhatkal is providing investigating agencies crucial clues about his brother and key Indian Mujahideen operative Yaseen Bhatkal.Sammad, who was arrested at the Mangalore airport on Monday, is being interrogated by teams from the Intelligence Bureau and the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad.Yaseen Bhatkal was at the forefront of orchestrating the Pune blast at German bakery on February 13.
Mohammed Omar Madni, a suspected aide of Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder Hafiz Saeed, is likely to be questioned by the Mumbai police in connection with the July 11, 2006 serial train blasts case. "We are in touch with Delhi police authorities and after getting more information from them, we will send a team to interrogate him," Additional Director General (Anti-Terrorism Squad) K P Raghuvanshi said.
The case is linked to the Bhopal terror funding case involving the proscribed organisation, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh.
From the grounds of the Ram Janmabhoomi, the Rampath, Rajesh Karkera/Rediff.com captures scenes from the celebrations.
In a twist, the widow of the senior police official with Maharashtra Anti- Terrorism Squad husband did not commit suicide, but he accidentally triggered the firearm that led to his death, police said on Thursday.
Security measures were heightened across Uttar Pradesh following a car blast in Delhi. Anti-terror agencies and police conducted searches in multiple cities, including Lucknow, in response to the incident.
The Bombay high court has said fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim has been declared a terrorist in his individual capacity under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and, hence, any association with him or his gang would not attract provisions of the stringent law.
