By IANS,
New Delhi : Mohammad Shakil, described as the ideologue of the 13-member terror module involved in the serial blasts in New Delhi, Ahmedabad and Jaipur, has been arrested, police said Sunday.
The 24-year-old, who hailed from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, was one of the three suspected terrorists arrested from here early Sunday.
“Shakil was the ideologue of the module. He was responsible for religious preaching and indoctrination of the members. He was so confident a person that the group’s mastermind Atif used to share his plans with him,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) H.G.S. Dhaliwal said.
According to the police, Shakil was a final year student of Masters of Arts (Economics) at the Jamia Milia Islamia here.
The terrorist module was busted after a team of Delhi Police Special Cell Friday raided a house in Jamia Nagar, a largely Muslim locality in south Delhi, where five suspected terrorists of the shadowy Indian Mujahideen outfit were staying for the last two months. Two of them were killed in a shootout, one was arrested, while two others escaped.
Police said the module was responsible for synchronized bombings in several courts in Uttar Pradesh last year and the serial bombings in Jaipur, Ahmedabad and New Delhi this year.
“A lot of literature relating to qurbani (sacrifice) has been seized from his possession. We also seized an issue of the India Today (Hindi) magazine with a cover story captioned ‘Bechara aur Bebas Bharat’ (Hapless India) from him.
“After each terror strike, they used to celebrate. They used to discuss whose bomb went off and whose did not. Whenever newspapers were devoid of any news relating to the bomb blasts they would complain about this,” Dhaliwal said.
Shakil had also gone to Karol Bagh, where the first of the five bombs went off here Sep 13 evening, before the bomb blasts to do a recce. At least 24 people were killed in the terror attack.
Police said Shakil, living in New Delhi since 2000, admitted to his role in the Ahmedabad serial blasts July 26 that killed 57 people.
“He has confessed to have placed a cycle bomb in Maninagar area of Ahmedabad,” Dhaliwal said. Maninagar is Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency.
Earlier, police seized a laptop belonging to slain suspected terrorist Atif from the Jamia Nagar house Friday. The laptop contained photographs of Osama bin Laden, police said.