ATS to get custody of IM suspects next week
Three years after the blasts at Opera House, Zaveri Bazaar and Dadar, IM members Waqas and Monu are likely to be brought to the city from Delhi early December.
Zia ur Rehman, alias Waqas, and Tahseen Akhtar, alias Monu, the two Indian Mujahideen terror suspects wanted in the July 13, 2011 triple Mumbai blasts, are likely to be brought to Mumbai by the Anti Terrorism Squad for questioning next week.
The two are currently in a Delhi jail after being arrested by the Delhi Special Cell earlier this year for their involvement in the Jama Masjid blasts. The Maharashtra ATS has moved a Delhi court seeking custody of them, and the court will hear the plea on December 2.
The 13/7 blasts involved three coordinated bomb explosions that killed 26 people and injured 130 at Opera House, Zaveri Bazaar and Dadar.
While the Maharashtra ATS already questioned the key conspirator in the case, Yaseen Bhatkal, and his aide Asadullah Akhtar, alias Tabrez, in February, Waqas and Monu were arrested from Rajasthan earlier this year and were in custody of the Delhi police.
“We have sought custody of the two at a Delhi court. The court will hear our plea next week,” said Niket Kaushik, Additional CP (ATS).
“While we have an outline of their activities, interrogation of Waqas and Monu is essential to get finer details of their activities in Mumbai. Since Waqas and Tabrez arrived in Mumbai first and arranged for accommodation for all of them in Byculla for over five months, their local activities need to be explored more,” ATS sources said.
Following the triple blasts, in December 2011, a Delhi Special Cell team assisted by the Mumbai Crime Branch had laid a trap for Waqas in Mumbai. Waqas, however, got a hint of it and did not turn up at the place where the cops were expecting him.
“He escaped and reached Kurla, where he was last seen. We want to find out about his sympathisers there,” ATS sources added.
Waqas, believed to be a Pakistani national, has been trained in bomb making and was sent to India by the fugitive Bhatkal brothers, Riyaz and Iqbal, to assist Yasin in executing blasts across the country. Monu is alleged to have received him and led him to Yasin Bhatkal and his long associate Tabrez.
Waqas is suspected to have prepared bombs that exploded at Jama Masjid in Delhi, the Sheetala Ghat blast at Varanasi, followed by the German Bakery blast, all in 2010. He personally participated in making and planting of bombs in the 2011 Mumbai triple blasts, and had planted a bomb near Mumbadevi temple and another at Kabutarkhana in Dadar.
Investigations subsequently revealed that Waqas had even joined a gym run by gangster politician Arun Gawli in Byculla.
Zia ur Rehman, alias Waqas, and Tahseen Akhtar, alias Monu, the two Indian Mujahideen terror suspects wanted in the July 13, 2011 triple Mumbai blasts, are likely to be brought to Mumbai by the Anti Terrorism Squad for questioning next week.
The two are currently in a Delhi jail after being arrested by the Delhi Special Cell earlier this year for their involvement in the Jama Masjid blasts. The Maharashtra ATS has moved a Delhi court seeking custody of them, and the court will hear the plea on December 2.
The Delhi police had opposed handing over the two suspects to the Maharashtra police until a charge sheet was filed against them. The work has now been completed.
The 13/7 blasts involved three coordinated bomb explosions that killed 26 people and injured 130 at Opera House, Zaveri Bazaar and Dadar.
While the Maharashtra ATS already questioned the key conspirator in the case, Yaseen Bhatkal, and his aide Asadullah Akhtar, alias Tabrez, in February, Waqas and Monu were arrested from Rajasthan earlier this year and were in custody of the Delhi police.
“We have sought custody of the two at a Delhi court. The court will hear our plea next week,” said Niket Kaushik, Additional CP (ATS).
“While we have an outline of their activities, interrogation of Waqas and Monu is essential to get finer details of their activities in Mumbai. Since Waqas and Tabrez arrived in Mumbai first and arranged for accommodation for all of them in Byculla for over five months, their local activities need to be explored more,” ATS sources said.
Following the triple blasts, in December 2011, a Delhi Special Cell team assisted by the Mumbai Crime Branch had laid a trap for Waqas in Mumbai. Waqas, however, got a hint of it and did not turn up at the place where the cops were expecting him.
“He escaped and reached Kurla, where he was last seen. We want to find out about his sympathisers there,” ATS sources added.
Waqas, believed to be a Pakistani national, has been trained in bomb making and was sent to India by the fugitive Bhatkal brothers, Riyaz and Iqbal, to assist Yasin in executing blasts across the country. Monu is alleged to have received him and led him to Yasin Bhatkal and his long associate Tabrez.
Waqas is suspected to have prepared bombs that exploded at Jama Masjid in Delhi, the Sheetala Ghat blast at Varanasi, followed by the German Bakery blast, all in 2010. He personally participated in making and planting of bombs in the 2011 Mumbai triple blasts, and had planted a bomb near Mumbadevi temple and another at Kabutarkhana in Dadar.
Investigations subsequently revealed that Waqas had even joined a gym run by gangster politician Arun Gawli in Byculla.
