Indian Mujahideen operative Tehseen Akhtar sent to police remand till April 2

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Wednesday sent Indian Mujahideen commander Tehseen Akhtar in police remand till April 02.

Akhtar, the outlawed Indian Mujahideen’s current chief of Indian operations who is an expert in bomb-making, was arrested on Tuesday morning.

According to Delhi Police Special Commissioner SN Srivastava, 23-year-old Akhtar was formally arrested from near Kakarvitta on the Nepal border while he was entering India. He was coming from Kathmandu.

Akhtar, once a close aide and a protégé of arrested IM’s co-founder Ahmad Siddibappa Zarar alias Yasin Bhatkal, was wanted for a series of terrorist strikes in various states.

Police officials have described the arrest as a major breakthrough in the war against the shadowy group.

Police sources earlier told a news agency that Akhtar, a resident of Samastipur in Bihar, was part of Indian Mujahideen’s plan to create mayhem during the staggered Lok Sabha polls starting April 7.

Investigators said Akhtar, the tech-savvy terrorist, was the prime motivator tasked with developing new modules for the outfit and had also become the vital link between the IM and other radical extremist groups emerging from the banned SIMI.

Akhtar was in constant touch with Pakistani national Waqas, who was arrested on Friday from Rajasthan also by the Delhi Police.

Akhtar was reportedly involved in bomb attacks in several places since 2010, the year he reportedly joined IM. The strikes include a blast at Varanasi’s Sheetla Ghat during the evening ‘aarti’, the 2011 serial blasts in Mumbai and the twin bombings in Hyderabad in 2013.

Srivastava told a news agency that Akhtar was the one who received Pakistani national Waqas at the Kathmandu airport in September 2010 and brought him to Delhi to carry out the Jama Masjid bomb attack.

Police sources believe Akhtar was being controlled by India Mujahideen’s absconding leader Riyaz Bhatkal, who is involved in several terror attacks in India.

Interrogation of Waqas revealed that Akhtar stayed with him at Munnar in Kerala from December 2013 till mid-January.

Srivastava said Akhtar’s next plan was to change his hideout from Kathmandu to another neighbouring country for which he entered Indian territory.

“IM’s bosses had assured him to provide shelter for the time being. But, he was unlucky. As soon as he entered Kakarvitta region, he was arrested,” Srivastava said.

Akhtar was later brought to Delhi by a special plane.

After executing the Hyderabad bombings in 2013, Akhtar took shelter in Jaipur and Jodhpur where he cultivated the Rajasthan module of IM, consisting of Mahruf, Waqar and Shaquib.

He left Rajasthan after the arrest of Yasin Bhatkal and Assadullah Akhtar alias Haddi, who is in judicial custody in Delhi.