Although the Delhi Police is gearing up to interrogate Yasin Bhatkal for his role in the 2008 serial blasts and in the attack on two Taiwanese tourists outside Jama Masjid in 2009, the IM co-founder had been successful in hoodwinking the police for the past five years.
Yasin stayed for over 20 months in a house in Abul Fazal Enclave in Jamia Nagar, married a local girl, Zahida, and fathered a child, but the police had no inkling. He fled the city after intelligence agencies got a wind of his stay in the area.
Considered as one of India’s Most Wanted, Yasin had taken the lead position in the hierarchy of IM after the Batla House encounter, following the Delhi serial blasts in 2008. The Delhi Police had put a reward of Rs15 lakh on him.
Asadullah Akhtar, who has been arrested along with Yasin, was involved in the Batla House encounter and had taken active part in the conspiracy to singe the national Capital on September 13, 2008.
Investigators had intercepted telephonic conversations between Amir Reza Khan, the co-founder of IM, and Bhatkal brothers, including Yasin. It took them some time to figure out the real motive of IM bosses based in Pakistan and its operatives in India.
With Yasin in the net, now agencies are looking out for Shahnawaz, who was involved in the Batla House encounter but had managed to flee to Dubai. Police had intercepted his conversation with Yasin and other IM cadres for launching terror strikes in Delhi and other parts of the country.
Shanawaz, the security agencies say, controlled the operations of IM in India from his base in Dubai as the IM had made a tactical shift to move out its operations from Pakistan to give the impression that it was an indigenous outfit.