Tehseen sent to police custody till 2 April: All his revelations so far

Indian Mujahideen’s operational head Tehseen Akhtar, who was arrested on Tuesday, has been remanded to police custody till 2 April. According to a report in IANS, he embraced terrorism when he was only 18 years old. “Such was his passion that his handlers immediately inducted him into the banned outfit”, the report quotes the Delhi police as saying.  But what is more significant is a revelation made by Zia-ur-Rehman alias Waqas, who was arrested in Rajasthan on Sunday, that at least 25 men from Uttar Pradesh have joined the Taliban and are part of Jihad along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. According to a report in Hindustan Times, Waqas, upon interrogation by the Delhi Police, has said that at least 25 men recruited by the IM from Uttar Pradesh have joined the Taliban and were part of a Jihad along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The report further states that the Delhi Police confirm that on interrogation, Akhtar had corroborated Waqas’s claims. “The men in question belong to the IM’s Azamgarh module — the first and the deadliest of the outfit’s executive divisions,” a senior police officer told Hindustan Times. A report in the DNA, quoting a chargesheet filed by the NIA, has said that Akhtar lived in Ranchi masquerading as a Hindu to hide his identity. The report further claims, citing investigating authorities, that Akhar had stayed in Mannar of Kerala and Mangalore, where he tried to set up IM base and recruit youth as well. As per the National Investigation Agency’s charge sheet filed in court last month, Akhtar, had stayed in Ranchi as well, where he was in touch with a member of banned organisation, SIMI, Haider Ali. During his stay in Ranchi, Akhtar sported a tilak and masqueraded as a Hindu to hide his identity. The report further states that Akhtar was planning on shifting to Bangladesh after the arrest of Waqas from Rajasthan. “He was changing his location after arrest of Waqas from Rajasthan last week. Most probably he was on way to Bangladesh,” said special commissioner (special cell) S N Srivastava. Apart from being the present acting chief of IM, Tehseen became the single most important link between his group and some independent splinter groups which have emerged from the original Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) stable. After the arrest of Yasin Bhatkal, Tehseen was the right hand man not just of Riyaz and Iqbaal Bhatkal but also for several other members of the Indian Mujahideen now based in Pakistan. In the initial stages of his involvement with the Indian Mujahideen, Tehseen met Gayur Ahmad Jamali, who was to be arrested in 2011, also by Delhi Police. In 2010, when the group’s then Indian operational head, Yasin Bhatkal was setting up a module in Darbhanga in Bihar. It was Jamali who introduced Tehseen to another Indian Mujahideen operative, Kafeel Akhtar, as well as Yasin Bhatkal. Bhatkal is now in jail along with his associate Asadullah Akhtar alias Haddi. “Yasin taught Tehseen all about ‘jehad’ and inducted him into IM," Special Commissioner of Police SN Srivastava told IANS. It was Yasin Bhatkal who gave Tehseen his first code name: Hassan. His first lesson, conducted in Pakistan, was how to use and assemble explosives known as petrol bombs, said Srivastava, who heads the Special Cell in Delhi Police charged with tracking and arresting terrorists. Tehseen’s his assignment also included acting as the carrier for Adil Ajmal, a Pakistani national, to ensure that he safely crossed over to Nepal from Pakistan. In Kathmandu, Tehseen also received Zia-ur-Rehman alias Waqas, another Pakistani who was arrested by Delhi Police Friday from Rajsthan, and Asadullah Akhtar at the airport. Tehseen provided logistic support to Waqas and Haddi and sent them to carry out the 19 September, 2010 bomb explosion outside Jama Masjid in Delhi’s old quarters. When Yasin and Asadullah were arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2013, a panicky Tehseen left Jodhpur and reached Kathmandu. Thereafter, he came in touch with Waqas at the end of December 2013 and stayed with him till mid-January 2014 at Munnar in Kerala. He had directed Waqas to reach Ajmer and coordinate with the Rajasthan module in their preparation to commit the next terror strike. Among their targets was the wildlife sanctuary at Bharatpur in Rajasthan. This was apparently to avenge the Gopalgarh mosque firing of 2009 in which 10 people belonging to the Meo Muslim community were killed, said another investigating official. IANS with additional inputs