Maharashtra ATS to seek Bhatkal's custody: R R Patil

Hailing the arrest of Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal as a big success for intelligence agencies, Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil on Thursday said a state Anti-Terrorism Squsad team would soon leave to interrogate him and seek his custody.

"Bhatkal's arrest is a big success for the intelligence agencies. He was wanted in eight various types of cases in Maharashtra," Patil said in a statement. Maharashtra ATS will leave to interrogate Bhatkal, in connection with various cases, including terrorist attacks in Mumbai and Pune's German Bakery blast, he said.

"The state ATS has started the process of seeking his custody to probe these cases," Patil added. Thirty-year-old Bhatkal, one of India's most wanted terrorists, was arrested from the Indo-Nepal border in north Bihar after being on the run for over five years.

The IM leader is wanted in a string of terror attacks in Ahmedabad, Surat, Bengaluru, Pune, Delhi and Hyderabad. It is the second major breakthrough for Indian agencies after the arrest of Lashkar-e-Taiba bomb expert Abdul Karim Tunda on August 16.

Yasin, also known as Mohd Zarar Ahmed Siddhibappa, along with three aides Tahaseen Akhtar Wasim Aktar Shaikh, 23, Asadulla Akhtar Javed Akhtar, 26, and Waqas alias Ahmed, 26, was allegedly behind three coordinated bomb explosions at Opera House, Zaveri Bazaar and Dadar West in Mumbai on July 13, 2011, that left 27 dead and 130 injured.