Hyderabad, July 19: An Akshardham temple attack suspect, Shaukatullah Ghori, who had been on the run for the last seven years, was arrested by the sleuths of Counter Intelligence Cell as he arrived at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport from Saudi Arabia on Saturday morning and handed over to Gujarat police by late afternoon.
According to Cyberabad police commissioner S Prabhakar Reddy, Gujarat police reached Hyderabad with a long pending non-bailable Pota warrant against Ghori after coming to know about his arrest and took him to Gujarat immediately.
Two heavily armed terrorists had attacked Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar on September 25, 2003 killing and injuring several people. Shaukatullah who was in Gujarat at the time of the attack suspected to be one of those who had provided base support to the Pak terrorists.
Shaukatullah, a resident of Kurmaguda in the Saidabad police station limits, is brother of dreaded terror suspect Farhatullah Ghori who is said to be operating from Saudi Arabia. Farhatullah is wanted by city police in numerous terrorist related cases including the suicide bomb attack on the Task Force head office and Sai Baba temple blast. According to the sources Shaukathullah arrived from Oman airlines this morning along with his family and he was picked up by the sleuths of the Counter Intelligence Cell. However Ghori’s wife and children were taken to an undisclosed location and their baggage was thoroughly scrutinized by the police.
Sources said that a three-member team of Gujarat police reached Hyderabad from Ahmadabad by Spice Jet at 4.45 pm and took custody of the suspect and returned soon after.
The police refused to say what Shaukatullah had said about his terrorist brother. However, city police commissioner B Prasada Rao confirmed that Shaukatullah had travelled twice between India and Saudi Arabia in the last five years. Three people were given death sentence and 10 others life term in the Akshardam case.
–Bureau Report Siasat News