Author: Parth Shastri
Publication: The Times of India
Date: September 20, 2008
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Centre-Gujarat_coordination_brought_Delhi_shootout_success/rssarticleshow/3504802.cms
The successful operation leading to the gunning
down of SIMI operative Bashir alias Atiq who was involved in Ahmedabad and
New Delhi blasts has once again underlined the importance of co-ordination
between intelligence and investigative agencies at the Centre and in states.
Sources put down the breakthrough to the coordination
among cops of the Capital, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, with the Intelligence
Bureau acting as the facilitator.
According to sources critical inputs came
from the Gujarat police, which has extracted reams of crucial information
from the SIMI/Indian Mujahideen activists being held for the Ahmedabad blasts
and the failed attack on the diamond city of Surat.
The IB officials, after the input had been
vetted by their units in Maharashtra and Gujarat, passed it on to Delhi Police
which developed it with the help of scientific investigation before zeroing
in on the hideout at L-18 at Batla House in Jamia Nagar.
Apparently the Ahmedabad crime branch which is probing the serial blast cases
of July 26 in which 57 were killed, had collected phone call details of Mufti
Abu Bashar and Sajid Mansuri, two important suspects in these blasts.
After the Delhi blasts, there was suspicion
of the same persons being involved. "As the same module was behind both
the blasts, we further questioned Bashar and Sajid Mansuri on the Delhi blasts",
said a crime branch official. Delhi police took Bashar away on Thursday.
Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) Ashish
Bhatia, told TOI that Bashar's statement was vital for further investigation.
"We got his call list and analysed it. We found some of the numbers from
Delhi's certain areas, Jamia Nagar among them. We gave this list to central
agencies," he said.
These agencies - Intelligence Bureau (IB)
and National Security Guards (NSG), then further analysed and corroborated
the location of the calls. The agencies were also given the statements of
the accused recorded by Ahmedabad crime branch which also talked about Bashar's
visits to Delhi.
"The Mufti was needed to identify the
places we suspected. He took us to Jamia Nagar and we confirmed it was the
same place mentioned in the statement. A local STD PCO booth was used to make
calls to various places in India, which we identified. Then we kept these
flats under surveillance," said a senior Delhi police official.
