The Special Cell of Delhi Police on Tuesday dealt a body blow to the banned terror outfit Indian Mujahideen by arresting Tehseen Akhtar, alias Monu, one of the most wanted terrorists of the country.
Monu, a co-founder of the terror outfit, was a vital cog in the network of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) and was wanted in a number of attacks across the country as he was involved in their planning and execution. With his arrest, the entire top leadership of the IM has been neutralised by the Special Cell. Delhi Police’s nationwide crackdown on the IM has resulted in the arrest of all the top guns of the IM and operatives.
Now, the central security agencies are on the trail of Riyaz Bhatkal and Iqbal Bhatkal, the two brothers who founded IM with the help of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). Bhatkal brothers are said to be holed up in a safe house in Karachi provided by the ISI. Monu’s arrest comes days after Delhi Police nabbed another top IM operative Zia-ur-Rehman alias Waqas, a Pakistani national from Ajmer in Rajasthan along with three of his associates. Special Comm-issioner of the Special Cell SN Shrivastava confirmed his arrest but refused to give details as investigations are underway.
Monu has emerged as the single most important link between the IM and certain independent splinter groups which have emerged from the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) stable. He is also close to Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal and SIMI’s ‘Black Beauty’ module of Ranchi. More arrests are expected in a couple of days.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell), Sanjeev Yadav said: “During the interrogation of Waqas, a few leads cropped up and the police finally traced Monu. On receiving a specific input that he would be crossing the border and entering India, Monu was nabbed from near Kakarvitta on the Indo-Nepal border on Tuesday. He is being brought to the Capital on a special aircraft.”
According to the police, following directions from Monu, Waqas had reached Ajmer for an assignment. Waqas was asked to be ready for a strike but targets were not disclosed. Senior officials revealed that a location and strike are planned as a reaction to a certain issue. In this case, a strike was being planned to avenge the 2011 riots at Gopalgarh.
Even though Special Cell officials remained quiet about any political leaders being targeted, but security arrangements have been beefed up in the Capital ahead of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s rally at Shastri Park on Wednesday to avoid any untoward incident. Interrogation of Waqas and three other IM operatives, Mohammad Mahruf, Mohammad Waqar Azhar and Shaquib Ansari revealed that Monu was operating from abroad.
He frequently came to India to keep tabs on sleeper modules that were being directed by the Bhatkal brothers. Monu had also visited Waqas in the last week of December 2010 when he was in Munar, Kerala. Monu is a resident of Darbhanga and is known by several names like Sahil, Sameer, Hasan. He was known to Gayur Ahmad Jamali (arrested by the Special Cell in 2011). Gayur Jamali introduced Monu to Kafeel Akhtar and Yasin Bhatkal (both arrested). It was Jamali who motivated him to meet and join Bhatkal to understand the true meaning of jehad.
Yasin Bhatkal later introduced Monu to Quateel Siddiqui (arrested; dead) and gave him his first code name ‘Hassan’. From then his training period started and he received his first training in the use of Molotov Cocktails. After being formally inducted into the IM, his first assignment was to act as the carrier for Adil Ajmal (Pakistani national; since arrested) and to ensure that he safely crossed over to Nepal. Here, in Kathmandu, Monu received Waqas (Zia-Ur-Rehman; arrested) and Daniyal (Asadullah Akhtar alias Haddi; arrested). Soon after the arrival of these new characters into the fold of IM, the Jama Masjid attacks took place.
later, Monu along with Yasin Bhatkal, Waqas and Haddi executed the Varanasi bombings. In the beginning of July 2011, Yasin Bhatkal directed Monu to come to Mumbai and on July 13 2011, Monu along with Yasin and others executed the Mumbai attacks. Monu had placed the IED at the Dadar Station foot-over bridge.After Mumbai bombings, the first terror task that was executed by Monu along with Waqas and Haddi was the Hyderabad serial blasts of February 2013 where Monu had planted the IED at Dilsukhnagar. After executing the Hyderabad bombings, Monu took shelter in Jaipur and Jodhpur where he cultivated the Rajasthan module of IM.