Author: Shishir Gupta
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: September 23, 2008
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/gujarat-police-tracked-cellphone-trail-to-atif-shared-it-with-delhi-in-august/364740/
As early as August 20, investigators from
the Gujarat Police and the Intelligence Bureau probing the Ahmedabad blasts,
handed over a series of cellphone numbers, including the one used by Atif
alias Bashir, the alleged mastermind of the Delhi blasts and one of the two
men killed in the Jamia encounter last Friday. Intercepts of Atif's phone
number indicate there were 12 people in his house the night before the encounter
since Atif's phone was used to order dinner for a dozen.
Sources have detailed the sequence of events
to The Indian Express that led to the encounter in which Inspector Mohan Chand
Sharma lost his life.
Gujarat Police was told by the landlord of
a house in Vatva, Ahmedabad, which was used by terrorists for the serial blasts
in Ahmedabad on July 26 that one of the SIMI cadres used telephone number
(9712398204) to call him for renting the house.
Tracing this number, Gujarat Police found
that five pre-paid SIM cards had been purchased, including the above number,
using fictitious identities. Investigations showed that this number was used
by main accused Abu Bashar for a while.
Checking on the above number revealed that
it received two calls from eastern UP from number 9415835341. This phone number
went dead before the Ahmedabad blasts.
Working on the eastern UP number, the Gujarat
Police found calls from 9811004309, which was being used by Atif.
Gujarat Police handed over Atif's number for
surveillance at a senior level to both the Delhi Police Special Branch and
to the Intelligence Bureau. This is confirmed by DCP Alok Kumar.
On September 17 - four days after the Delhi
blasts - when Abu Bashar was brought to Delhi by Ahmedabad crime branch inspectors
Zankat and T S Patel, Atif's number showed it was operating in four locations,
including Jamia Nagar. The other three locations are still under verification.
While the Delhi police claim that there were
five people in the house at the time of the encounter, telephone intercepts
suggest that Atif's number was used to order pizzas for dinner for 12 persons.
However, as pizzas were not available, the person using the phone said that
the "food (delivered) should be enough for 12 persons." Besides,
the four persons arrested on Sunday by the Delhi Police were apprehended after
a call - lasting six to seven minutes - made to a landline from Atif's number.
