The Centre has prepared a list of 31 absconding terror suspects, including 19 from the Indian Mujahideen (IM), and asked all the States and Union Territories to locate and arrest them.
The step by the Union Home Ministry comes nearly a week after a blast during Ganga Aarti in Varanasi in which two persons were killed and 20 others injured. The blast was suspected to be the handiwork of the IM.
Official sources said the Centre, in coordination with the States, was forming special teams to hunt them down. The suspects at large include members of the Jam-I-yyathul Ansarul Muslimeen (JIAM). The Centre also plans to coordinate the search with foreign countries.
Detailed dossiers about the IM and JIAM militants have been shared with a few Gulf countries, as intelligence inputs suggest that some of them holding Pakistani passports were currently based there.
The sources said some of the countries had already begun surveillance on some suspects.
Eight of them are from Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh, 10 from Karnataka, six from Kannur in Kerala, three from Maharashtra and two each from Gujarat and Jharkhand. The majority were either in Pakistan or the Middle East, while around 10 are said to be in India, the sources said.
The IM is suspected to be involved in over 10 serial blasts in the capital and other parts of the country. JIAM struck in Bangalore on July 25, 2008. Nine bombs exploded in the city, killing a woman and injuring 20 people. The IM was banned by the Centre in June this year. The outfit's signature is also seen in this year's Pune blast that claimed 17 lives.
