In yet another breakthrough, the Delhi Police Special Cell on Tuesday arrested Tehsin Akhtar alias Monu, the de facto chief of the Indian Mujahideen.
Monu is accused of recruiting members for the outfit’s modules through his close links with the banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
His arrest comes three days after Zia-ur-Rehman alias Waqas, an alleged Pakistani member of the outfit, was nabbed from Ajmer in Rajasthan along with three other suspects.
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Monu, 23, was heading the terror outfit’s operations after the arrest of the previous IM-India chief, Yasin Bhatkal, last August. He is considered a confidant of Pakistan-based IM founder Riyaz Bhatkal. The National Investigation Agency had announced a reward of Rs. 10 lakh on Monu’s head.
Special Commissioner of Police, Special Cell, S.N. Shrivastava said: “Sustained interrogation of Waqas and the other arrested members of the IM’s Rajasthan module led us to Monu. We received a tip-off that Monu had moved out from his hideout to a neighbouring country [Nepal] and was expected to come to India to cross over to another country. Acting on the information, a team was sent to the Indo-Nepal border in Darjeeling and Monu was arrested,” Mr. Shrivastava said.