The role of a gangster lodged in Delhi's Tihar jail is being probed in connection with the message on Telegram channel, through which an outfit named Jaish-ul-Hind had claimed responsibility for placing an explosives-laden SUV near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's house in Mumbai, a police official said.
A court in New Delhi on Wednesday extended the custodial interrogation period for three suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorists, arrested for their alleged roles in the August 1 Pune blasts after the Delhi police said several IM and LeT cadres are still in hiding in different states.
The operatives of the Indian Mujahideen -- which carried out the Hyderabad twin blasts in which 17 people were killed on February 21 -- were told by their leaders that working for the terror outfit would guarantee a place for them in heaven.
The recent arrests of three youth have given the Delhi Police a lot of information on the functioning of the Indian Mujahideen. While certain procedures pertaining to their operations have come out, the more important aspect has been the manner in which they are operating the Saudi Arabia module to carry out terror strikes in India, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
According to officers who were part of the probe, detecting a crime that was committed with proper planning, involving different modules working separately for a common cause, was a challenging task.
Working in perfect coordination, the Delhi police, the National Investigation Agency and the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad have managed to crack the Pune blasts case. They have also busted a major module of the Indian Mujahideen and arrested three suspects -- Asad from Aurangabad, Imran Khan from Nanded and Sayeed from Pune. Four kg of explosives, eight detonators and nine volt batteries were found to be in possession of the arrested accused.
It seems that like in the late 1980s, Pakistan feels that its support to the IM is giving diminishing returns and they have decided to jettison them. It is not unlikely that an American nudge and pressure to do this has been a significant factor in all these happenings, says Colonel (retd) Anil Athale
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squasd, probing the 13/7 blasts case, is on hunt for five more alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives suspected to have played key role in the terror attacks, besides the group's top operative Yasin Bhatkal and two planters, police said on Sunday.
The bomb had exploded atop a bus stop in Dadar. The main objective of Bhatkal behind hatching the conspiracy and planting the bomb was to trigger communal conflagration in Mumbai, IM member Nadeem Sheikh said in his 25-page confession.
With funds for terror activities drying up due to intense crackdown by authorities, terror outfits are resorting to alternative means -- like carrying out robberies -- to raise money for their plans. Terror groups such as the People's Liberation Front of India, Indian Mujahideen and certain modules of the Harkat-ul-Jihadi in Kerala have all adopted this method. While acts of robbery may indicate sheer desperation.
The Union Home ministry has asked the Andhra Pradesh government to hand over the probe into the Dilsukhnagar twin blasts here to the National Investigation Agency, a senior officer said on Saturday.
Terrorists and insurgents are increasingly acting together at the regional, national and global level. But we in India are not, points out B Raman
Syed Maqbool and Imran Khan, who are currently lodged in Tihar Jail in New Delhi following their arrest by the Delhi Police in the August 2012 Pune blast case, were handed over to NIA for their custodial interrogation after the agency alleged they had in July last year recced Hyderabad's Dilsukhnagar area where the blasts occurred.
A boast by Qateel Siddiqui about making a second attempt to plant a bomb at famous Shrimant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati temple prompted jailed gangsters Alok Bhalerao and Sharad Mohol to eliminate him at Yerawada prison near Pune, according to the chargesheet filed by city police in murder of the Indian Mujahideen operative.
A Maharashtra ATS team, involved in Pune explosion probe, is in the Andhra Pradesh capital to coordinate with investigators probing the Hyderabad twin blasts, which is suspected to be the handiwork of Indian Mujahideen.
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.
Although the Hyderabad blasts bear the signature of the Indian Mujahideen, the police and the Intelligence Bureau say that it is too early to pin point the blame on the infamous terror outfit.
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to direct the Centre to get alleged Indian Mujahideen member Fasih Mohammed, detained by Saudi Arabia authority, extradited or deported to the country.
Vicky Nanjappa takes a look at the series of the blasts over the past one-and-a-half years, and observes investigators overlooked many a lead, and the task ahead for them, is a tough one indeed.
Homegrown terror outfits are using money from petty crimes such as robberies, and extortion to fund its activities making it difficult for investigators to track their financial trail. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Continuing its crackdown on Indian Mujahideen, the Delhi police and central security agencies have arrested one more important cadre of the terror outfit who had provided refuge to top IM operative Yasin Bhatkal in November last year.
A key operative of terror outfit Indian Mujahideen was on Friday arrested from Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi by the National Investigating Agency.
A Mumbai court on Thursday extended the police custody of two suspected Indian Mujahideen operatives, arrested in connection with July 13 triple blasts, till February 10 after Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad sought to probe into the source of explosive materials and possible future terror targets.
With the Bangalore police securing the custody of Sameer, an accused in the 2008 serial blasts in the city, more involvement of the Oman-Kerala and Karnataka links into terrorism has surfaced. Sameer was apprehended by the airport immigration authorities in New Delhi on Wednesday while he was trying to flee the country.
Members of the National Investigating Agency who are part of Wednesday's Pune serial blasts probe say that the entire operation looks as though it had been planned locally. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
A wristwatch was used to trigger the explosives in the Pune coordinated serial blasts, as evidence gathered by investigators on Thursday appeared to point to the involvement of homegrown terror group Indian Mujahideen.
The preliminary investigation into Wednesday night's serial blasts in Pune has shown that a lot of planning went into them, and were carried out by experts. Although the Intelligence Bureau has not pinpointed any organisation to be behind the attack, the biggest suspect continues to be the Indian Mujahideen, since the blast has been carried out in their stronghold of Pune. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
Security has been tightened at Raxaul railway station in Bihar on Sunday night following an intelligence report that Indian Mujahideen, a terror group, has threatened to blast its premises and to target Delhi-bound trains, the police said.
Additional Solicitor General Gourab Banerjee told a bench of justices P Sathasivam and Ranjan Gogoi that as the Saudi Arabia police has officially announced that Fasih was in its custody, the habeas corpus petition filed by his wife Nikhat Parveen has become infructuous.
The city police on Wednesday told a Delhi court that six of the seven Indian Mujahideen operatives arrested recently have confessed about their involvement in the September 2010 blast near Jama Masjid.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said that post 26/11 attacks, there have been just two terror strikes in India -- Pune and Mumbai.
Brother of suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorist Mohammad Qateel Siddiqui, who was murdered at the Yerawada jail in Pune recently, has sought the intervention of President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia for a high-level probe into the incident.
A Delhi court on Thursday remanded a suspected Indian Mujahideen operative, who was arrested from Bihar for his alleged role in various blasts across the country, in seven days' police custody.
A magistrate's court on Tuesday awarded 14-day police custody to two accused in connection with the murder of alleged Indian Mujahideen operative Mohammad Qateel Siddiqui in high-security Yerwada jail in Pune.
Indian investigators are looking into a relatively new terror module known as the Bullet 313 brigade. It is evident that the name of the outfit has been inspired by the Ilyas Kashmiri led 313 brigade of the Al Qaeda. Indian Mujahideen, the terror outfit suspected to be behind the Mumbai serial blasts, was formed four years ago. Investigators initially suspected that it was an offshoot of the Students Islamic Movement of India, which was merely using a new name.
Delhi Police on Wednesday claimed to have smashed a pan-India terror module with the arrest of six suspected Indian Mujahideen operatives, including a Pakistani, allegedly involved in blasts in Pune, Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore and Delhi's Jama Masjid.
Naquee Ahmed, one of the 13/7 blasts accused, was in contact with Indian Mujahideen's elusive chief operative Yasin Bhatkal through a popular social networking site since 2008, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad claimed on Sunday.Naquee, who hails from Darbhanga district of Bihar, was initially arrested on January 10 this year on charges of forgery for allegedly procuring mobile phone SIM cards using fake documents.
With the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad naming Dubai-based Muzaffar Kola, an associate of jailed 1993 serial blasts accused Mustaffa Dossa, as a wanted accused in the 13/7 triple blasts case, the link between underworld and home grown-terror outfit Indian Mujahideen has surfaced
'Not afraid to look Muslim, not shy of flaunting her nationalism.' 'With a willingness to fight carrying the Constitution, the Flag, the Anthem, Ambedkar, Gandhi and the chant of 'Hindustan Zindabad',' notes Shekhar Gupta.
Police are looking at members of the Al-Ummah outfit, who may have been motivated by the IM to carry out the blast near the BJP office in Bangalore. Vicky Nanjappa reports