BENGALURU: The Central Crime Branch police have filed chargesheet against four suspected Indian Mujahideen operatives, who were arrested in January this year. The chargesheet was submitted to the 49th City Civil and Special Court on Monday.
The chargesheet has been filed against Syed Ismail Afaaque, 36, Syed Suboor, 24, Saddam Hussain, 29, and Riyaz Ahmed Sayeedi, 32. It has also named Riyaz Bhatkal, Iqbal Bhatkal, Afeef, all the three currently sheltered in Karachi, Pakistan, and Jainullabuddin and Sameer, whose present whereabouts are yet to be traced. All the five have been chargesheeted as absconding accused in the case. All the nine accused hail from Bhatkal taluk of Uttara Kannada District.
The police had arrested Afaaque, Suboor and Saddam Hussain from Pulikeshinagar on January 8. Based on their statement, the police had arrested Sayeedi from Mangaluru airport on January 10, while he was trying to flee to Dubai.
“The accused are involved in supplying of explosives for various bomb blasts in different places of India between 2010 and 2014. Large quantity of electronic detonators, gelatin sticks, ammonium nitrate, jihadi literature and posters and assembled circuit boards to be used in bomb blasts have been recovered and seized on the information of the arrested persons,” the police said.
“The arrested people are in regular touch with absconding accused Riyaz, Iqbal and Afeef, the founder members of Indian Mujahiddeen. The main accused, Afaaque, a homeopathy doctor, is married to a Pakistani national. On the pretext of visiting his in-laws house in Karachi, Afaaque used to obtain visa easily and visit Karachi, where he used to meet Riyaz, Iqbal and Afeef. He discussed about providing logistical support to carry out bomb blasts in various parts of India. Afaaque had undergone training in using various weapons, assembling of Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) in Pakistan,” the police stated.
“The other accused Sayeedi was working in Dubai and was also in touch with Riyaz, Iqbal and Afeef. At their behest, he used to visit India and discussed about carrying out terror attacks in the country with the other accused. Investigations revealed that just a few days after he returned from India, there was a bomb blast in some part of the country,” the police explained. The police have also mentioned that the accused had planned to carry out blasts in various places in the country during US President Barack Obama’s visit to India on the Republic Day. They also had allegedly stocked explosive substances for this purpose and it has been seized.
Highlights
- 123 witnesses cited in the chargesheet
- Chargesheet runs up to 1,700 pages, split into three volumes
- Identity of several key witnesses keptconfidential
- Accused charged under various sections of the IPC, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act & Explosive Substances Act
- Syed Ismail Afaaque was the one who supplied explosives to carry out blasts across the country
- Suspects had planned multiple bomb blasts across country during US President Barack Obama’s visit on Republic Day
