Five weeks after he escaped from Mumbai sessions court premises, Indian Mujahideen operative (IM) Mohammed Afzal Mutalib Usmani was arrested by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) sleuths from Rupaidiha in Uttar Pradesh early on Sunday, while he was preparing to flee to Nepal with a fake identity.
Seen as a major breakthrough, Usmani’s arrest came after the ATS sleuths detained his nephew Javed Nurul Hasan Khan (19), who assisted the former in his escape from Mumbai, on October 25.
A close aide of IM founder and fugitive Riyaz Bhatkal, Usmani was arrested by ATS search team, outside the Rupaidiha railway station, village located on the border of Nepal in Bahraich district in Uttar Pradesh.
“We arrested him at Rupaidiha, while he was trying to cross over to Nepal,” Maharashtra ATS chief Rakesh Maria told mediapersons on Monday. Both Usmani and Javed were produced before a city court, which remanded in ATS custody till November 6.
Usmani, an accused in the 2008 blasts in Ahmedabad and a subsequent blast attempt at Surat in Gujarat, had escaped on September 20 from the special MCOCA court premises at Kala Ghoda in south Mumbai, where he was brought along 18 others from Taloka jail for framing of charges in a 2008 blast conspiracy case. He had given a slip to the escorting police team on the false pretext of going to toilet.
Ever since his escape from the city court premises, teams of Crime Branch-CID of Mumbai Police and the ATS had been on the lookout for Usmani. In an effort to reach out to Usmani, the city police had been keeping a close watch on the movements of his family members, especially his nephew Javed.
“Javed is son of Safia Khatoon, sister of Usmani, who stays in Azadnagar slums in Dharavi. Javed is close to him. He had indoctrinated the boy. During the court hearings, Javed used to be present. He also used to visit him in Sabarmati and Taloja jails,” Maria said.
According to Maria, Javed was arrested by the ATS sleuths on October 25. “During the questioning, we came to know that after his escape, Usmani had met Javed and both first fled to Surat, from where they got a train to Indore, then Bhopal and subsequently Jabalpur,” Maria said.
Maria said that Usmani later left for Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh, where he was hiding at the residence of his niece Razia Khatoon Nizamuddin Khan.
According to a senior ATS officer, Usmani had applied for a passport and driving licence under the assumed name of Washim Sattar Khan. He had sent Javed to Mumbai to fetch some documents which could help him conceal his identity while escaping to Nepal through the porous border.
“After we picked up Javed on October 25, our team left for lucknow from where our team left for Tatera village by road. After being told Usmani was on his way to Nepal, our team headed straight to Rupaidiha, where we arrested him,” Maria said.
Queried if Usmani had any local contacts in Nepal, Maria said that the ATS team had just brought the arrested IM operative to Mumbai and would be questioning him in detail in coming days.
Usmani was and among the first Indian Mujahideen operatives to be arrested by the city-CID police in 2008, when it busted the IM module responsible for a spate of blasts across the country. He had been lodged in the Taloja jail in Raigad district.
A resident of Trombay in north-east Mumbai, Usmani was among the 20 IM terrorists including four Pune-based techies, who were arrested in connection with the terror emails sent ahead of the Ahmedabad and Delhi blasts and others involved in the various post-2005 blasts in the country - in September and October 2008.
Usmani had been behind the bars since his arrest - and was charged before a special court set up under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
Under the instructions from Usmani, two accused in the Ahmedabad blasts - Mohammed Mobin Abdul Shakoor Khan alias Irfan (32) and Ayub Raja Amin Shaikh (28) - had stolen four cars - three Wagon R and one Maruti 800 - which were used by the IM in the serial blasts in Ahmedabad and an attempted blast at Surat.
On July 12, 2011, Maharashtra’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) sleuths arrested Mobin and Amin Shaikh in connection with the 2008 Ahmedabad blasts and Surat blast attempt. Mobin and Amin Shaikh were handed over to the Gujarat police subsequently.
Apart from organising theft of cars used in the Ahemdabad blasts and attempted blast at Surat, Usmani had allegedly planted at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital and later planted bombs at Surat.
Usmani’s arrest had led the Mumbai Police to the Pune module of IM, which included professional from various areas. Following his arrest, the ATS arrested 11 IM operatives, including Peerbhoy, Majid Shaikh alias Nazim, Yasir Sayyad, Farooq Tarqas, Asif Bashir Shaikh alias Hasan alias Mehmood, Mohammed Atif alias Musab and Mohammed Akbar Ismail from Pune.