Author: Vicky Nanjappa in Bangalore
Publication: Rediff.com
Date: February 10, 2008
URL: http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/feb/10iisc.htm
Finally, after two years, the Bangalore police
have made some headway in the case pertaining to the terror attack on the
Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore.
Director general, Corps of Detectives, Dr
Ajai Kumar Singh said that a militant named Sallahudin has been arrested in
Lucknow and that he had assisted Abu Hamza, the mastermind of the IISC attack
in December 2005.
The information regarding Sallahudin was obtained
during the interrogation of Mohammed Riazuddin Nasir, a man recently arrested
by the Karnataka police. During the course of the investigation, the police
managed to unearth a major plan hatched by terror outfits to attack several
places in Karnataka.
The CoD, while claiming that the arrest of
Sallahudin was a major breakthrough, also said a team of the Bangalore police
had left for Uttar Pradesh to secure the man. Dr Singh said that the UP police
would first interrogate him, following which the Bangalore police would bring
him to Bangalore after production of a body warrant.
Sallahudin, an alleged Lashkar-e-Toiba militant
and a resident of Madhubani in Bihar, was arrested along with Imran and Farooq
while they were trying to leave Lucknow. The UP police also picked up three
other militants - Suhail, Arshad and Fayheem - in Rampur while they were heading
towards Mumbai.
According to the UP police, Sallahuddin had
masterminded the attack on the Central Reserve Police Force camp in Rampur
on New Year's Day.
The Bangalore police, during the course of
investigations, had found that Nasir had met the mastermind of the LeT attack
Abu Hamza while he was training at Muzafarabad in 2007. He also revealed that
Sallahuddin had assisted Hamza in the IISc attack.
Dr Singh further said that while interrogating
Nasir, they found that he had been involved in certain activities in Hyderabad,
but denied any role in the Hyderabad blasts as was reported in the media.
The CoD chief also said that Nasir had informed them about the forest camps
that they had been operating from, but they did not manage to find anything
there.
He added that a team of the Hyderabad police
will visit Bangalore on Monday to interrogate Nasir.
Dr Singh also said that a separate Anti Terrorist
Squad would be set up exclusively for Bangalore in view of the security threat
in the capital of Karnataka.
