Two operatives of the banned terror outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM) — Anik Shafique Sayeed and Mohammed Akbar Ismail Chowdhari — convicted in the 2007 Hyderabad twin blasts case, prepared and planted 32 improvised explosive devices (IED) in Surat of Gujarat in July 2008. However, none of the explosives went off.
They helped the co-founder of IM Yasin Bhatkal, prime accused in Gokul Chat blast Riyaz Bhatkal and his brother Iqbal Bhatkal and others in preparing the explosives. Nearly a year after the twin bombings at Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat here, the duo went to Surat on July 16 with some explosive materials from Pune and from there, they shifted their base to Sherpura near Bharuch town. Their rented house was located on the national highway.
The revelations were made in the charge-sheet filed in a local court here.
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“Two days later, Riyaz and Yasin reached Sherpura and we started preparing the bombs at midnight. All the explosives were ready and on July 24, 2008, we reached Surat. One Fazal, Yasin Anik and Talah planted the explosives at different places and it was Yasin’s idea to keep the bombs on trees,” Akbar Chowdhari told the interrogators.
With none of the 32 IEDs going off, Riyaz, Iqbal, Yasin and other IM men were disappointed at the miserable failure and left Surat, he said.
“While I was leaving for Pune, Riyaz gave me a pistol and asked me to hand over the firearm to Iqbal. When I met the latter, he was tensed as bombs planted in Surat did not explode,” Akbar said, adding that Fazal and Riyaz left the explosives-laden car in Surat.
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Celebrated Jaipur blasts
Three days before the Jaipur serial blasts in May 2008, Iqbal asked Abkar’s brother Mohsin to arrange a small function to celebrate their victory.
“Two days later, the function was organised and when we visited the flat in Pune, we saw Iqbal was watching TV and he was very happy. We came to know about the Jaipur blasts and thought that Iqbal might have planned the bombings,” Akbar told in his confession.