Suspected IM terrorist sent to 7-day custody

A Delhi court on Wednesday remanded a suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorist, arrested on Tuesday with one kg of explosives and a detonator, in police custody for seven days.

Assadullah Rehman alias Dilkash, 20, arrested from north-east Delhi, was produced before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Yadav, who sent him to police custody until April 4.

The court directed the police to maintain a record of officials, who interrogate Dilkash and also asked them to wear a clear name tag to let the accused identify them.

Dilkash, who hails from Darbhanga in Bihar, had allegedly escaped in November last year from an illegal arms factory of Indian Mujahideens at Nangloi in West Delhi before the police crackdown during which several suspected terrorists were nabbed.

According to the police, Dilkash had told them that he had hired a house at Chandu Nagar from where the sleuths allegedly  recovered one kg of explosive powder, a  detonator, a timer and a mobile phone.

The police said Dilkash, an alleged aide of the outfit's elusive key operative Yasin Bhatkal, was motivated by Mohd Kafeel Ahmad, the ideologue of Indian Mujahideen and was arrested earlier.

It said in February 2011, Ahmad introduced him to Bhatkal who further motivated him to join the outfit. In April last year, on instructions from Bhatkal, Dilkash reached Delhi and was taken to the factory at Meer Vihar in Nangloi which was later busted by police, it said.

There he learnt to work on the lathe machine and assisted Mohd Irshad and Bhatkal in allegedly manufacturing pistols and other arms and ammunition.

After the arrests of Indian Mujahideen operatives last November, Bhatkal directed Dilkash to leave the factory along with whatever explosives and other material he could lay his hands on, police said.