Mahruf and Waqar, the Indian Mujhahideen operatives arrested from Jaipur, were once bright students with one of them even aspiring to study at IIT but lost their way after they were indoctrinated by Pakistan-based Afif Bhatkal alias Atta, one of IM’s founder members who are trying to recruit youths with technical background.
“Interrogation of these operatives who were part of the Rajasthan module of Indian Mujahideen has revealed that its founders like Riyaz, Iqbal and Afif who reside in Pakistan currently are now looking to induct fresh “talent” into the terror outfit and for this they are targeting educated youth with technical background,” said a senior police official associated with the investigation of the case.
“They think that those with technical knowledge will learn about things like IEDs, detonators, circuits etc easily and thus will be handy in carrying out terror strikes. Afif used to screen Facebook to spot people who showed interest or ‘liked’ content related to jehad. He then got in touch with them, further radicalized them and finally inducted them in IM fold,” the official said.
Sources said that Afif, who must be around 35 years old, fled to Pakistan in 2009 and since then is living in Karachi with Riyaz and Iqbal. He is Riyaz Bhatkal’s cousin.
Special Cell of Delhi Police had arrested Zia Ur Rehman alias Waqas on Saturday from Ajmer and then nabbed Mahruf and Waqar from Jaipur while Shaquib Ansari was arrested from Jodhpur at Waqas’ instance on Sunday.
“Mahruf and Waqar were engineering students while Shaquib was a computer expert, they were recently ‘recruited’ by Afif in that order as they completely fulfilled the ‘requirements’. Once they were ready, Riyaz Bhatkal instructed Tehsin Akhtar, IM’s India chief (arrested on Tuesday) to further train them in IEDs and other things,” the official said.
According to police sources, Mohd Waqar Ahmed (21), a resident of Pali in Rajasthan was once very focused on studies.
“He scored 80 per cent marks in tenth board and 75 per cent marks in 12th board. He wanted to study at IIT and for that even enrolled at a very reputed coaching institute at Kota, Rajasthan for one year,” the official said.
“But he could not clear any major engineering entrance test following which he took admission in Global Institute of Technology in mechanical branch. He took a room at Pratap Nagar along with Mehraj and Yaasar,” the official said.
23-year-old Mahruf also had similar credentials. His father is an executive engineer in Rajasthan Electricity Board and they have a parental house in Jhotwara, Jaipur.
He had scored 94 per cent in 10th and 81 per cent in 12th class. He gave Rajasthan pre-engineering test in 2010 and got admission in Vivekanad Institute of Technology in Jaipur in Computer Science engineering and he was supposed to pass out this year, the official said.
Waqar used to frequent Pratapnagar mosque where he was persuaded by the people there to join ‘Tablighi Jamat’. At one such Jamat, he met Mahruf and they became friends as “they shared common interest in jehad. Consequently his interest in studies declined and he failed in 16 papers”. He was currently in final year of his engineering.
“He was looking for a suitable platform. Mahruf got him in touch with Afif who introduced him to Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal. Riyaz told him that Muslims suffered in Gopalgarh riots in 2009 and he should do something to avenge it following which he did a recce of Gopalgarh,” the official added.
Similarly, Shaquib met Mahruf when the latter had gone to Jodhpur in a function in December 2012, both of them bonded on shared interest. Shaquib later came to Jaipur where he spoke to Afif and Riyaz over phone and then continuously remained in touch with the two, police said.
“It was in May-June 2013 that Mahruf told Waqar that Riyaz had instructed them to buy an android mobile phone for Tehsin Akhtar alias Monu, who was coming to Jaipur. They bought a MAX mobile in Rs 3000 from the local market. The SIM came from Jodhpur which was procured by Shaquib,” the official said.
They also arranged a two-room rented accommodation for him and bought some household items for it.
“Waqar identified himself as Haneef, Mehruf as Aftab and Tehsin Akhtar alias Monu as Sahil. Monu then went to Mumbai and collected Rs 1.3 lakh sent to him by Riyaz, out of which one lakh he delivered to Yasin Bhatkal’s wife Zahida along with a phone in Delhi,” the official said.
Monu returned to Jaipur but when his name came up in media reports in connection with blasts in Patna at Narendra Modi’s rally in October last year, he shifted to Jodhpur to evade arrest where his accommodation was arranged by Shaquib, the sources said.
“Here again when Shaquib showed him a news report which said that investigative agencies believe that he was in Jodhpur, he fled to Munnar in Kerala where Waqas was already staying.
“Monu stayed with Waqas for just a week but soon left for Bhubneshwar. He frequently kept changing his hideouts and fled to Nepal. After hearing of Waqas’ arrest, he was planning to flee to Bangladesh but was caught by Special Cell when he crossed into India at Pani Tanki area in Darjeeling,” the official said.
–PTI