The Delhi Police Special Cell had, on the basis of revelations made by alleged Indian Mujahideen terrorist Sayed Maqbool, last October disclosed that the banned outfit planned to target the Buddhist shrines in Bodh Gaya. The police had shared the input with the agencies concerned almost nine months ago.
Through an October 26, 2012 release, the Special Cell announced Maqbool’s arrest in the Pune blasts case. It said he was a trainer in improvised explosive devices. He was tracked down to Hyderabad where he was arrested on October 23 last year.
Based on the purported disclosures of other suspected IM members — Asad Khan, Imran Khan, Sayed Feroz and Landge Irfan Mustafa — the police had said the four, along with Maqbool, had “planned to carry out a fidayeen attack at the Buddhist shrines in Bodh Gaya in retaliation to the alleged atrocities being committed on Muslims in Myanmar. Their plan had the approval and support of Bhatkal brothers [alleged IM founders].”
Pune blasts
The Special Cell said Maqbool had taught Imran and Asad how to configure a bomb. In April 2012, Imran introduced him to the Bhatkal brothers. Before the Pune serial blasts in August last, Maqbool, Irfan, Imran and Asad discussed their plan to target the Buddhist shrines in Bodh Gaya, said the release, adding that since the Bhatkals wanted to avenge the death of Qateel Siddiqui (a terror suspect killed in Pune’s Yerawada Jail), they decided to first carry out blasts in Pune.
The police said Maqbool last year helped Imran in conducting a reconnaissance of Dilkushnagar, Begum Bazar and Abids in Hyderabad on a motorcycle. Incidentally, two blasts were triggered that claimed 18 lives in Dilkushnagar on February 21. No arrests have been made in the case so far.
