The three Indian Mujahideen operatives arrested in Delhi on Thursday were planning a terror attack in the capital around the festive season. And the Delhi police claim that with these arrests they have cracked the August Pune blasts case as well.
Delhi police sources tell rediff.com that they had specific intelligence about the trio trying to target the city. Arms and ammunition, which were to be used for the attack, have been recovered from the operatives.
The operation, which was headed by fugitive IM head Yasin Bhatkal, comprised a group of ten youths for this operation. The three members who have been arrested were assigned the roles of conducting a recce and planting explosives.
The Delhi police, who have been questioning the trio, have identified one of the operatives as Rehman Asadullah also known as Dilkush. He was indoctrinated into the outfit by Kafeel Akthar, who
later introduced him to Bhatkal. The meet took place last year in Darabanga, Bihar, the police said.
Rehman was working at an arms factory run by the IM in Delhi, but had managed to give police the slip at the time of a raid. After the raid, he escaped to Bihar. He returned to Delhi later and was staying in Chandu Nagar, said officials from the Delhi police.
A detonator, a timer, other equipment to assemble a bomb and a mobile phone have been recovered from him.
"The initial round of questioning of the three operatives indicates that they were surveying a few targets in Delhi. They were planning a major operation and on the basis of intelligence inputs we carried out the arrests," said an official from the Delhi police, requesting anonymity.
These youths are part of the IM's Darabanga module, which is the strongest among the various cells of the outfit operating in the country today.
The Delhi police further point out that there have been serious attempts to revive the IM cell in Delhi. "Operatives from other modules are sent to Delhi in smaller groups in a bid to regroup. Earlier, terror operations were planned in pockets of Old Delhi."
