Nabbed fundraiser helped IM men escape after Batla?

NEW DELHI: Abdul Wahid Siddibappa, Indian Mujahideen (IM) founder Riyaz Bhatkal’s brother-in-law and a distant relative of the outfit’s former chief Yasin Bhatkal, is suspected to have facilitated the travel of Mohammad Sajid (Bada Sajid), Mirza Shahdab Baig, Abu Rashid and Dr Shahnawaz Khan, who escaped the Batla House encounter in 2008, to Pakistan via Dubai.
Bada Sajid and Rashid last week featured in a 22-minute IS propaganda video. Baig and Khan’s whereabouts are not known.
The NIA, which is questioning Wahid about his “tactical” and “financial” role in IM before the outfit disintegrated around 2013, claimed he had arranged tickets for two-three persons in Dubai for further travel.
“There were initial reports that Bada Sajid, Khan and Baig, apart from many others, had fled to Pakistan via Dubai and we are probing whether Wahid arranged for their travel because he knew all senior members of IM,” an officer said. Wahid was extradited from the UAE last week.
Bada Sajid, Rashid, Khan, Baig and several other IM members had split from Riyaz Bhatkal some time in late 2013 when the Azamgarh youths, found that the Bhatkal brothers (Riyaz and Iqbal) were not using the money allegedly given by ISI and Lashkar-e-Taiba for ‘jihadi purposes’ but were using it to fund their lavish lifestyle in Pakistan. Sultan Armar and Shafi Armar, along with the disgruntled IM members, started a new outfit Ansar-ul-Tawhid (AuT) owing allegiance to IS.