Arrested Indian Mujahideen (IM) co-founder Yasin Bhatkal has reportedly admitted the hand of Pakistan in orchestrating the terror strikes in Hyderabad early this year. He reportedly told his interrogators that he received instructions from a Pakistani handler to carry out the blasts in Hyderabad in February.
Sources privy to his interrogation said 30-year-old Yasin had supplied explosive material to a person for planting at various locations in Dilsukhnagar near Cyberabad, adjacent to Hyderabad city.
Yasin, who is branded as the face of modern-day terrorism, has told sleuths of the Intelligence Bureau during questioning that he had received instructions from a Pakistani handler to target Hyderabad so that foreign companies would refrain from expanding their business into India. Two blasts rattled Dilsukhnagar on February 21 this year, killing 17 people and injuring over 100.
About the Pune German Bakery blast on February 13 in 2010 that had left 17 people dead, including four foreigners, Yasin, according to claims by his interrogators, said that he had planted the bomb in the shop which was frequented by tourists. The reason was to cause maximum damage. Therefore, the explosive material was placed near gas cylinders, Yasin is claimed to have told interrogators.
A Pune court had on April 18 this year awarded the death sentence to IM operative Himayat Baig in connection with the case. His lawyer
A Rahman had said that though they respected the verdict, they would appeal against it in the Bombay High Court. Yasin also gave details about his cousin Iqbal and Riyaz Bhatkal saying that they had not been visiting India. He said that Iqbal visited Nepal earlier this year and was using a satellite phone to talk to his masters in Pakistan. Wanted in around 40 blast cases and carrying a reward of `35 lakh on his head, Yasin was arrested from the Indo-Nepal border on August 28. During his questioning earlier by the police before coming to Delhi, Yasin said he and his associate Asadullah Akhtar aka Haddi, used to take advantage of the porous Indo-Nepal border, 110 km of which lay in Bihar.
Yasin and Akhtar, after their arrest from Nahar Chowk in Raxaul sub-division of East Champaran district on Thursday, told police that they frequently travelled between the two countries without a hitch.
locals said that one spent as little as `35 to reach Birgunj in Nepal from Raxaul in Bihar, a distance of 4 km by cycle rickshaw. Though the District level Coordination Committee meeting was scheduled every three months, it mainly deliberated on issues concerning encroachment and border pillars.