Top Indian Mujahideen leader Yasin Bhatkal and his accomplice Asadullah Akhtar alias Haddi were remanded in police custody till February 18 by a special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court on Thursday. Bhatkal and Akhtar were arrested in August last on the Indo-Nepal border and had since been in the custody of the National Investigation Agency. Bhatkal hails from Bhatkal village in Karnataka and Akhtar from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh. Akhtar is considered a close associate of Bhatkal and the two are wanted in a string of terror cases in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Surat, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Now the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad got their custody in connection with the July 2011 serial blasts in the city, which left 27 people dead and over 120 injured, and other terror strikes in the State.
Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told the court that Bhatkal and Akhtar were the key conspirators in the 13/7 attack and their custodial interrogation was necessary to know how they procured explosives and to unearth the hawala route allegedly used to fund the blasts.
Court allows handcuffingADVERTISEMENT
The ATS moved an application to handcuff the accused on the ground that they were dreaded terrorists. For, the agency does not want to take chances, after the alleged IM operative Afzal Usmani fled from the Mumbai court premises during an appearance in September last.
When the defence lawyer objected to the prosecution plea, judge Y.D. Shinde questioned his contention: “You can see this security, you still feel there is no need for handcuffing them?”
Mr. Shinde later passed an order allowing the handcuffing of Bhatkal and Akhtar while being transported to the court.
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