Man who provided RDX for 1993 Mumbai blasts held

AHMEDABAD: For almost 23 years, Abdul Sattar Batliwala, 60, was in hiding after the deadly 1993 Mumbai serial blasts. On Saturday night, however, the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) smoked him out of the posh Bandra West colony in Mumbai. He turned out to be a neighbour of some top Bollywood actors and a cricket star.
ATS officials claim that Batliwala is one of the key accused in the Gosabara arms and RDX landing case of 1993.One consignment of the explosives were allegedly later used to trigger the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts.Gosabara is located on the Porbandar coast of Gujarat. The Mumbai serial blasts had claimed more than 250 innocent lives.
Batliwala, it is alleged, was present at the meeting that underworld don, Dawood Ibrahim, had held in Dubai along with his brother, Anis, a few days prior to the Mumbai seri al blasts.
ATS superintendent of police, Himanshu Shukla, confirmed that an ATS team led by deputy superintendent of police (ATS) B A Chavda had nabbed Batliwala while he was passing via Khar in his vehicle.
“A few months prior to the blast, a plan was chalked out with the help of Pakistan intellignce service, ISI, to smuggle explosives and arms to avenge the death of Mus lims in the riots that had broken out in Mumbai after the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. Batliwala was allegedly present at Dubai meeting," said an ATS official.
Shukla said Batliwala had been handed over to Jamnagar police for further investigation. “Around 50 accused have been arrested till now in the Gosabara arms and RDX landing case while 16, including Dawood Ibarahim, Anis Ibarahim, Mohammed Dosa and Chhota Shakeel, are still absconding,“ Shukla said.
Batliwala hails from Nanded in Maharashtra and had been running a hotel and furniture business. He was living in a posh Mumbai neighborhood where some famous Bollywood and cricket stars live.
ATS, however, alleges that Batliwala was into gold and silver smuggling since 1985 and was even arrested by the Gujarat customs department in 1987 for smuggling around 254 silver plates.
“Later, Bat liwala came in contact with DGang's smuggling syndicate which included Mustufa Majnu, Mohammed Dosa and a key accused of the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, Tiger Memon,“ said DySP Chavda.
Sources in the ATS claimed that after the secret meeting in Dubai, two trawlers -Al Sadabahar and Bismillah -both owned by Mohammed Dosa were loaded with consignments of explosives and arms which included AK-47s, AK-56s, pistols and grenades when they were far out in the sea near the Karachi coast.Pak marines had helped in loading the trawlers with arms, the sources said.
“Al Sadabahar landed at Gosabar coast in Gujarat while Bismillah proceeded towards Maharashtra and landed near Shekhadi of Raigarh district in Maharashtra,“ said an ATS official.
“While the explosives in Al Sadabahar where transported by trucks and cars to Umargam in Valsad and from there to Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, explosives and arms from Bismillah were transported to Mumbai where they were used in the 1993 serial blasts,“ the ATS official said.
The sources further claimed that some of the arms, including AK-56 assault rifles, were seized by Gujarat police in 1995 from a well on the farm of Sohrabuddin Shaikh at Jharania in Madhya Pradesh.“