An Eid gift that Yasin Bhatkal sent to his wife early this month proved to be his nemesis. He transferred Rs.1 lakh through the regular banking network which alerted the Intelligence Bureau and helped in locating his hideout deep inside Nepal, informed sources said.
After tracing suspicious calls from Nepal to a few relatives and persons known to Yasin in India, the IB started monitoring them. It is believed that in one such call from Nepal, there was talk about transfer of money to his wife on Eid. Further investigation and surveillance of calls led to the Indian Mujahideen’s alleged co-founder in Pokhra in Nepal.
The presence of another IM operative Asadullah Akhtar, terror group’s key bomb-maker, also came as important news for the IB, the sources said.
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It is alleged that Yasin has been involved in smuggling fake Indian currency, selecting attack targets, supplying explosives, assembling and planting of bombs, motivating youth to join his terror organisation and also raising funds.
Now a joint team of investigators from various agencies are interrogating him. Yasin who is wanted in at least a dozen cases of terror, including Ahmedabad and Delhi blasts of 2008, Pune German Bakery blasts of 2010, Chinnaswamy Stadium blast in Bangalore and triple blasts in Mumbai in 2011; and the recent ones being Delhi High Court blasts and Dilsukhnagar (Hyderabad) twin blasts.