The suspected Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist arrested following a brief encounter with the Special Cell of Delhi Police in Hauz Khas here on Sunday was wanted in nearly 10 cases involving several killings in the past decade. The accused was on Monday produced in a city court that remanded him to 14-day police custody.
The Special Cell carried out the operation following tip-offs, from the Central Intelligence and their Jammu and Kashmir counterpart, about the movements of the suspect. A technical surveillance was launched to zero in on him.
The sleuths learnt that the suspect would come to Rose Garden in Hauz Khas to meet an acquaintance on Sunday night. Subsequently, a trap was laid and the police, after rounds of fire, managed to overpower him, seizing one .30 bore pistol and live cartridges.
The accused was taken to the Special Cell's Lodhi Colony office. He identified himself as Mohammed Abdullah alias Abdullah Inquilabi (30), a resident of Shahdara at Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. The accused disclosed that he owed allegiance to Hizbul Mujahideen, with which he had been associated for the past decade.
Preliminary investigations revealed that Abdullah was wanted in several cases in Jammu and Kashmir. He was allegedly involved in the slaughter of the members of a community at Budhal in 2005. He and his accomplices allegedly killed three police personnel in another case. The police suspect his involvement in nearly two dozen killings and abductions.
According to sources, Abdullah claimed that he was brainwashed and initiated into terrorism by one Maulvi Ashraf in 2000. Through him, he came in contact with Mohammad Masood Sarfaraz — the then Supreme Commander of the banned terror outfit's Pir Panjal unit.