Maharashtra ATS cracks July 13 Mumbai triple blasts case, arrests 2

Mangalore Today / CNN IBN

Mumbai, Jan 22 : The Mumbai ATS today claimed to have cracked the conspiracy behind the July 13 blasts at Opera House, Zaveri Bazar and Dadar which killed  26 persons, with the arrest of two Darbhanga residents who helped dreaded terrorist Yasin Bhatkal to carry out the explosions.

Naki Ahmed Wasi Ahmed Sheikh, 22, and Nadim Akhtar Ashfaq Sheikh, 23, residents of Devram, Bamdeoli, Darbhanga, have been arrested for providing stolen scooters, fake sim cards and apartment to Yasin Bhatkal and his associates to carry out the deadly blasts, said Rakesh Maria, Mumbai ATS chief.

 

 

The ATS will be producing Naqee Ahmed and Nadeem Mukhtar for extension of remand in a cheating and forgery case and at a later stage charge them with some role in the triple blasts case, even though the charges are unlikely to be direct. Another accused in a cheating case, Mumtaz will also be charged with a role in the 13/7 blasts at a later stage.

ATS chief Rakesh Maria said that the investigating teams visited 18 states and a lead was obtained sometime in last week of November, 2011. A team left for Darbhanga in Bihar to carry out the investigations.

Maria said that 12373 witnesses were examined and the financial trail of the blasts has been fully covered.

 

 

"The investigations were handed over to the ATS on July 18. During the investigations and lookout we made inquiries in 18 states. There are 12373 witness in the case. We have analysed footages from 180 camera. Success was achieved and we have been able to pinpoint the perpetrators of the crime," said Maria.

Naqee is the person with whose help Delhi Special Cell was planning to identify Shahrukh Shahbandari alias Yasin Bhatkal at Habib Building in Mumbai’s Byculla. But before that could happen, the Maharashtra ATS arrested him in a cheating case.

Earlier it was reported that the hideout of three of the perpetrators has been found. The key blast planners operated from a third-floor flat in Byculla.

Sources say the trio, including key conspirator Shahrukh Shahbandari alias Yasin Bhatkal, had rented the apartment for six months.

The Maharashtra ATS questioned the landlord, even as the trio is believed to have fled the country earlier this month.

Powerful IED blasts had rocked the bustling Zaveri Bazaar, Opera House and Dadar areas in Mumbai within a span of 30 minutes on July 13, 2011, killing 27 and wounding 137 others.

The first blast had taken place at 6:54 pm at south Mumbai’s crowded Zaveri Bazaar. Within a few minutes, Opera House and Dadar were also hit by powerful explosions.