Yasin Bhatkal had a hair-width escape from Chennai Police in November 2011.
He was staying in the house of Abdul Rehman, a close confidant at Selaiyur, a city suburb when a team of sleuths from Intelligence Bureau, Delhi Police and Chennai Police swooped down on the house. But Bhatkal escaped the dragnet minutes before the arrival of the police team.
Sources told The Pioneer that he was in Chennai to recruit men for the Indian Mujahideen.
Intelligence sources in Tamil Nadu had been warning about some of the most wanted terrorists slipping in and out of Chennai as well as other parts of Tamil Nadu without getting noticed. “There are regions like Keezhakkarai in southern Tamil Nadu and Nagur near Nagaopattinam which are frequented by these elements. “One of the reasons why they have not struck in Tamil Nadu and Kerala is due to the safety offered by these regions,” a senior intelligence person had told this newspaper.