Delhi Police on Tuesday claimed the arrested top lashkar-e-Tayyeba operative Abdul Subhan was planning to kidnap some top corporate honchos and finance terror activities from the ransom money.
Security agencies have intercepted calls between terrorists lodged in Alipore Jail (Kolkata) and lashkar-e-Tayyeba (leT) operatives based in Pakistan. leT commander Zavel Baluchi was tapped umpteenth times talking to Abdul Subhan, the leT recruiter arrested by the Special Cell. Agencies sounded an alert after Baluchi was intercepted talking to Subhan’s nephew Asahbuddin, alias Showkat, who is serving life imprisonment in the abduction of Khadim shoe owner Partha Roy Burman. Asahbuddin was lodged in Alipore Jail and has been has been brought to Delhi for questioning.
Investigations have revealed that Abdul Subhan, the lashkar operative arrested by Special Cell had met Asahbuddin last April in Kolkata prison. In August 2013, Asahbuddin got parole for 15 days and went to Mewat for roping in young boys for carrying out subversive activities. Security agencies got in touch with the West Bengal police after leT commander Baluchi was intercepted talking to Asahbuddin. It was construed a major security breach, sources said as a convict was using cell phone in high security Alipore Jail. Security agencies had alerted Special Cell after they intercepted several calls emanating from Pakistan and the same were traced to suspects living in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar. Mohammad Shahid and Qari Rashid were arrested by Special Cell On November 27 last year from Mewat region in Haryana.
According to a senior Delhi Police official, 42-year-old Subhan is the mastermind of leT and was tasked to identify and rope in young boys for joining ‘jihad’ against India. He was raising a leT module by enticing youths from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and Bihar. Subhan was planning terror strikes in Delhi before Assembly elections and to abduct a prominent businessman for extorting a huge amount as ransom. Asahubddin told his interrogators that he was asked to revive his hawala operations and also generate money for Mewat module. Subhan was directed by leT commander Baluchi to meet Asahbuddin and plan further attacks. Baluchi had informed Asahbuddin in advance that his maternal uncle Subhan was coming to meet him in jail. Asahbuddin was later tapped asking Baluchi to send money via hawala channel for buying explosives and arms for the young recruits sources added. Asahbuddin and Subhan were arrested in Patan district of Gujarat in 2001 with a cache of arms and explosives. They posed as the driver and cleaner of the truck. Police had recovered AK-56 assault rifles, pistols, grenades and explosives. Investigations by the Gujarat Police and the central security agencies had then revealed that leT handler Azam Cheema, Aftab Ansari and Asif Reza Khan were involved in the conspiracy. Aftab Ansari is currently lodged in Alipore Jail while Azam Cheema is acting as the Intelligence chief of leT.
It may be recalled that Asahbuddin, Pakistani terrorist Arshad and Aftab Ansari, the mastermind of terrorist attack at American Center in 2002, are convicts in Partha Roy Burman’s kidnapping case that had rocked Kolkata. Burman was released after he paid a hefty ransom that ran into several crores. Ransom was paid in Dubai and the same was used for buying arms and ammunitions for launching subversive activities in the country. Ansari who headed Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami (HuJI) Bangladesh’s India operations was hobnobbing with leT and other Pakistan-based terror groups.