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.
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).
According to a senior ATS official, the man identified as Rizwan Khan was arrested from his residence at Kalyan in Thane district on Friday night.
The fact that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence shows a lot of interest in the operations in India is no secret. Abu Jundal, who is now being questioned by the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad has told his interrogators that two senior ISI officers are exclusively in charge of the Indian operatives of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
Stating that investigations into the Pune blasts case were progressing well, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad on Tuesday claimed to have got some leads, with CCTV footage revealing two persons on a motorcycle moving suspiciously in the area around the time of the blasts.
Claiming to have some 'vital' clues in the Pune blast case, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad has sought the help of auto rickshaw drivers, asking them to share information about suspicious passengers who might be linked to the terror attack."I have appealed through radio to auto rickshaw drivers, who might have ferried passengers with suspicious behaviour to the eatery or anywhere else on the day of the blast, to share the information with me," said ATS chief.
The mystery behind the missing bullet-proof jacket of slain Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare took a new turn on Wednesday with a sweeper of a government hospital in Mumbai claiming that he had disposed it off long ago. The statement evoked a sharp reaction from Kavita Karkare, wife of the slain officer, who said, "This theory had cropped up now because the government is under pressure. I have lost all hope of getting fair justice in this case."
A suspect in the 2008 Ahmedabad blasts was killed and two of his accomplices arrested in an encounter with the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad on Monday, which also left a constable wounded at Aurangabad. The deceased has been identified as Khaleel, a resident of Gulmohar Colony in Ahmedabad, said the police.
A suspected hawala operator, who allegedly handed over Rs 10 lakh to fugitive Indian Mujahiddin operative Yasin Bhatkal for executing the July 13 triple blasts that killed 27 people in Mumbai, has been arrested from Delhi, the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad said on Tuesday.
Toral Varia Deshpande brings you the details of how rivalry between India's two of the most recognised agencies, the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad and the Special Cell of Delhi Police, has cost India one it's most wanted terrorist and 13/7 Mumbai serial blasts mastermind -- Yasin Ahmad Siddibappa alias Yasin Bhatkal.
The 13/7 Mumbai blasts were a wake up call to India's security agencies. The fact that these blasts are today half-a-year old, and security agencies have not found a single clue, is a major cause of concern. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
Sanatan Sanstha member Prashant Juvekar, arrested for his alleged role in the 2009 Goa blast, was included in the group tasked with engineering the explosion due to his 'aggressiveness' in propagating the outfit's ideology, Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad officials said on Tuesday.
Three days after the arrest of a top Indian Mujahideen operative from a village in Bihar, a joint team of the National Investigation Agency and Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad raided another village in the state on Friday in search of another IM cadre, police officials said.
Desperately looking for a breakthrough in the city's triple blasts case, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad has extensively questioned an alleged Indian Mujahideen operative, who was arrested in a counterfeit currency case, with regards to the July 13 explosions.
K P Raghuvanshi removed as the chief of Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad, said sources from Maharashtra's home department on Thursday.
Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare, who was probing the Malegaon blasts case, suffered three bullet injuries in his chest as he was leading the offensive against the terrorists in one of the places the ultras had holed out early this morning.
Maharashtra's Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) probing the 2006 suburban train blasts, filed an affidavit in the Bombay high court today saying that it had destroyed call data records (CDRs) of all the 13 accused.
Looking for clues to Wednesday's serial blasts, Maharashtra's Anti-Terrorism Squad has fanned out teams to various locations across the country and prepared a sketch of the suspect based on eyewitness accounts.
On September 29, 2008, a bomb explosion at 9:35pm opposite Shakil Goods Transport Company situated between Anjuman Chowk and Bhiku Chowk in Malegaon killed six persons and injured 101.
Union Minority Affairs Minister A R Antulay on Wednesday suggested that Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare could have met his end due to his role in the Malegaon blasts investigation. Karkare and two other senior officers of the Mumbai police died on November 26 when Pakistani terrorists attacked Mumbai. Antulay said Karkare was investigating some cases in which there are non-Muslims also.
Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Rakesh Maria on Tuesday deposed as a defence witness before a sessions court in Mumbai in the infamous television executive Neeraj Grover murder case.
The joint statement was issued by retired DGPs Julio Ribeiro, Prakash Singh, P K Hormis Tharakan, Kamal Kumar, Jacob Punnoose, Sanjeev Dayal, Jayanto Choudhury and N Ramachandran.
The Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad has failed on three occasions to get Sabahuddin and Fahim Ansari a conviction in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks case.
The Goa police on Monday made the first arrest in the Margao blasts, in which two persons were killed, when a man with alleged links to a Hindu right-wing group 'Sanatan Sanstha' was detained and searches were carried out at the outfit's office.The two victims, who were killed in the blast, were activists of the Sanstha. The police had earlier detained five members of the that which has recently come under the scanner of security agencies.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad claims that it has cracked the 13/7 serial blasts case. But the probe will be remembered for the many monumental blunders that left investigators red-faced, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
It has often been asked as to why groups such as the Indian Mujahideen have been resorting to lower intensity blasts over the past couple of years. The group is existent, but the gusto appears to be missing, says Vicky Nanjappa
Maharashtra Director General of Police Sanjay Pandey has posted a message on his Facebook page about two posts of superintendents in the Anti-Terrorism Squad lying vacant, and invited aspirants to approach the department or contact him through the social media.
Muzaffar Kola, accused for funding the 13/7 blasts is marked as 'wanted' in the chargesheet filed by Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad, but in reality, he lives at Jaali Cross Road in Bhatkal, Karnataka. Vicky Nanjappa speaks to the man and his family.
The Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad on Wednesday arrested two accused already in custody in the July 13 triple blasts case for allegedly lifting two bikes that were used to trigger explosions at two out of three venues.
Praveen Mutalik, an absconding accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case, has been arrested from Karnataka by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad.
The ATS will oppose the anticipatory bail application of Sachin Waze in Thane sessions court today.
Nine months after a powerful bomb exploded at the German Bakery in the posh Koregaon locality in Pune killing 17 people, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad on Saturday filed its chargesheet against the alleged mastermind of the attack Himayat Baig. Assistant Public Prosecutor for ATS A V Ausekar told judicial magistrate Swarup Bose that the accused had committed heinous crimes against the state of India.
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to order any probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation or any other central agency into the allegations by the brother of a 13/7 Mumbai serial blast accused that his family was being framed by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad.
Haroon Naik, arrested in connection with the 13/7 serial blasts here, had undergone training with Indian Mujahideen founder Yasin Bhatkal in Pakistan and sent Rs 10 lakh to him last March to carry out the bombings that killed over 25 people.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad on Monday claimed to have made a major breakthrough in the July 13 triple blasts in Mumbai last year that claimed 27 lives, with the arrest of two of the accused hailing from Bihar.
Rebutting senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani's charge, Maharashtra's Anti-Terrorism Squad said on Thursday there was no political pressure on it in handling the Malegaon blast probe nor was there any substance in the charge that accused Purohit was tortured in custody.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad on Wednesday arrested Lieutenant Colonel Srikant Purohit in connection with the September 29 Malegaon blasts, an ATS official said. Purohit was interrogated two days ago by the ATS in connection with the blasts in Malegaon and was arrested today, Additional Commissioner of Police (ATS) Parambir Singh said. Singh, however, refused to reveal Purohit's role in the blasts.
Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and another person, arrested for their alleged involvement in the September 29 Malegaon blast, were subjected to narco-analysis tests in Mumbai on Monday.The Sadhvi and Sameer Kulkarni underwent the scientific tests conducted by officials of the Forensic Science Laboratory in a hospital in south Mumbai, Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad officials said.The tests on former army officer Ramesh Upadhyay is likely to be conducted on Wednesday.
The Bombay high court ticked off a special MCOCA court conducting trial in the 2006 serial train bomb blasts and the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad for refusing to provide documents relating to the Call Data Records to some of the accused in the case.
Desperate for a breakthrough in the July 13 triple blasts, the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad is now looking to question two recently-arrested alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives.