Patna serial blasts : Jihadi terrorists of IM carried out blasts

October 28, 2013 

Ashwin Krushnapaksha 9, Kaliyug Varsha 5115

Hours after four suspects were arrested by Bihar Police in Patna; Jharkhand Police had detained three suspected Indian Mujahideen men from Ranchi in connection with the serial blasts in Patna on Sunday night that killed five people and left 83 injured. Police have arrested a total of 13 men so far.

“Based on the tip-off by Bihar police, we raided a place at Dhurva (area of the city) and detained three suspects. They are being interrogated,” a senior police officer said in Ranchi.

“The raids led to the seizure of a pressure cooker, extremist literature, explosives and other materials used to make IEDs (Improvised Explosive Device),” he said, adding that raids are being carried out at other places also. He, however, refused to divulge further details.

Meanwhile, Jharkhand police have recovered Jihadi literature, pressure cooker bombs, detonators from the Ranchi residence of one of the arrested suspect, Imtiaz Ansari.

The probe agency is questioning Ansari on the wider conspiracy behind the blasts.

Ansari was apprehended at Patna Junction Railway Station just after the first two bombs went off. As per reports, he was looking to plant some more bombs but panicked when he saw the police and tried to flee raising suspension of the cops who then arrested him.

Besides Ansari, Ainul, Akhtar and Kaleem are among the 13 other suspects arrested in connection the blasts. Ainul was critically injured in the station blast and was initially believed to be a victim before it emerged that he was also part of the conspiracy.

As per reports, Ansari has told his interrogators that the blasts were a terror strike orchestrated by the Indian Mujahideen (IM) to avenge the Muzaffarnagar blasts. He has claimed that the conspiracy was hatched by Tehseen Akhtar, who is the right hand man of arrested IM mastermind Yasin Bhatkal.

Ansari has also reportedly claimed that Akhtar had met him in early October and had provided him the explosives used to carry out the strike in Patna.

As per a Times of India report, second-in-command of IM, Tehsin Akhtar alias Monu, who belongs to Bihar and is part of the infamous Darbhanga module of the outfit, is still on the run and is now heading the outfit’s India operations after Ahmed Siddibappa alias Yasin Bhatkal’s arrest in August. Akhtar is wanted for several blasts including the 2011 Mumbai and 2013 Hyderabad blasts.

Akhtar is the mastermind of Bodh Gaya blasts as well. About half a kilo of explosives used in each bomb, table clocks used as timers, sources said on Monday.

Earlier, Jharkhand Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) SN Pradhan said an alert has been issued in the State after reports emerged that some of the accused involved in Sunday’s blasts are from Jharkhand.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has expressed concern over the incident and condemned the attack. He also asked officials to ensure that steps are taken to nab those involved in the attack soon.

Five people were killed and 83 injured in seven low intensity serial blasts in Patna of which six bombs went off in and around the venue of Narendra Modi’s mega rally at Gandhi Maidan shortly before his address to a huge gathering.

Police conducted raids at different places in Jharkhand after it was found that many of the accused in Patna serial bomb blasts hail from the State and black powder was recovered during raids in Ranchi.

“Black powder has been recovered,” Senior Superintendent of Police Saket Kumar Singh said after police raided a place at Dhurva in Jharkhand’s State capital.

Raids are also being carried out at other places, police sources said.

Additional Director General of Police (Law & Order) SN Pradhan had earlier said the accused named by Bihar police hail from Jharkhand.

“Many of the accused in the serial bomb blasts in Patna are from Jharkhand. They might have carried explosives from Jharkhand or might have got from there,” he said.

Earlier this year, Manjar Imam, an alleged Indian Mujahidin operative who hails from Ranchi, was arrested by the Anti-terrorist Squad in connection with Coimbatore and Ahmedabad blasts.

In 2001, two terrorists connected with the American Centre attack in Kolkata were shot dead in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh district.

Source : Niti Central