‘2008 Gujarat blasts accused was in touch with Riyaz Bhatkal’
Tauqeer was arrested following an alleged shootout in east Delhi’s Ghazipur on January 20, this year. (Express Photo: Praveen Khanna) Tauqeer was arrested following an alleged shootout in east Delhi’s Ghazipur on January 20, this year. (Express Photo: Praveen Khanna)
An alleged mastermind in the 2008 Gujarat serial blasts, Abdul Suban Qureshi alias Tauqeer, was in touch with the founder-member of Indian Mujahideen (IM) Riyaz Bhatkal soon after executing the blasts, and visited Saudi Arabia to meet him, states the chargesheet filed by the Delhi Police Special Cell last week. Tauqeer was arrested following an alleged shootout in east Delhi’s Ghazipur on January 20, this year.
According to the chargesheet, Tauqeer, who was hiding in Nepal, came back to re-establish the banned SIMI (Student Islamic Movement of India) group and the IM on the pursuance of Bhatkal, who is suspected of having carried out a number of serial blasts in the country between 2005 and 2009. The National Investigation Agency has announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh for any information on Bhatkal.
The chargesheet alleges that after SIMI was banned in India, “…Tauqeer did not stop his activities and secretly kept working for SIMI. He visited almost every part of India… During this period, he met Riyaz Bhatkal, and with his connivance, Tauqeer carried out the Ahmedabad-Surat blasts in July 2008.”
At least 56 people were killed and 200 injured in a series of blasts in Ahmedabad on July 26, 2008. Tauqeer is also allegedly involved in planting 29 bombs in Surat in July 2008, but they did not explode due failure of timer chips, said police.
A Red Corner Notice was issued against Tauqeer by the Interpol based on an arrest warrant issued by an Ahmedabad metropolitan magistrate. Tauqueer is among 38 people chargesheeted for their role with SIMI and for organising a training camp at Wagamon near Kerala. He carried a reward of Rs 4 lakh declared by the NIA for attending the training camp.
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