Pune: Its as bizarre as it can get. A terrorist was picked up by the same cops twice and was shown his own sketch once and asked to identify the suspect, a leading daily reported.
As per the reports, the terrorist walked away after denying that he was familiar with the man in the sketch.
And the man was none other than Indian Mujahideen's media and communications wing head Ajaz Shaikh.
In a irony of sorts, the police had committed the same mistake with IM chief Yasin Bhatkal in the past. He has since been arrested and is presently in jail.
Bhatkal had been arrested by the Kolkata Police in 2009 as a small-time thief and then released without proper investigation.
Shaikh was apprehended by the Pune ATS in December 2010 and February 2014.
This was three days after he escaped to Nepal. He was given a warning and asked to go.
The Pune ATS showed him his own sketch when they caught him the second time.
However, Shaikh was later arrested by the Delhi Police's special cell on September 05 this year from Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
The story was told to the investigating officers by none other than Shaikh himself.
Shaikh, 27, is considered one of the key IM man as far as logistics of the terror group is concerned. He is the one who is said to have sent e-mails to the media after the Pune Bakery, Jama Masjid, Varanasi blasts and so on.
He also used to allegedly prepare fake IDs for IM operatives.
