NIA, ATS, Delhi police teamed up to crack Pune blasts case

Working in perfect coordination, the Delhi police, the National Investigation Agency and the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad have managed to crack the Pune blasts case. They have also busted a major module of the Indian Mujahideen and arrested three suspects -- Asad from Aurangabad, Imran Khan from Nanded and Sayeed from Pune. Four kg of explosives, eight detonators and nine volt batteries were found in possession of the accused.

By busting the Darbhanga module, the probe teams have foiled a major operation that was being planned by terror mastermind Yasin Bhatkal.

Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar informed the media on Thursday that the Pune blasts case had been cracked. Plans for a major attack on Delhi and at a temple in Bodhgaya had also been thwarted, he said.

The three agencies had kept a close watch on the terror module operating from Darabhanga in Bihar, which had carried out the blasts in Pune. The same operatives who had carried out the blasts in Pune were going to execute the terror strike in Delhi.

The material found on the arrested suspects was similar to the one used in the Pune blasts and was sourced from the same location. The Darbhanga module, say sources, may have stocked up the ammunition and planned to use it in several other attacks.

In the last one year, the Intelligence Bureau has watched the movements of the IM with a hawk eye, in coordination with the Delhi police. The agencies also used the information provided by 26/11 attack accused Abu Jundal.

The NIA has questioned Jundal about the role of the IM in various attacks including the  blasts at Jama Masjid, Chinnaswamy Stadium and German bakery. In all these cases, the police and the NIA found a similar pattern involving the same module, headed by Yasin Bhatkal.

Jundal's confessions helped investigators figure out the larger picture about the main terror modules in India. Prior to his arrest, Jundal was living in Saudi Arabia and overseeing the terror operations of home-grown outfits such as the IM. During his interrogation, he also spilled the beans about the Lashkar-e-Tayiba guiding the IM and how the latter's operatives managed to transport arms for attacks.

During their investigation, the Delhi police found that most of the recent cases were inter-linked and carried out by the same module.

Qateel Siddiqui, a terror operative who was recently murdered at the Yerawada jail, had told investigators that the Darbhanga module had also planned to target a major temple in Pune.