Author: S Ahmed Ali
Publication: The Times of India
Date: September 25, 2008
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/SIMI_man_running_show_from_Pak/rssarticleshow/3524167.cms
Roshan Khan, who is supposed to be guiding
IM operatives from his base in Pakistan, is believed to be the same Riyaz
Bhatkal whose name figures in the twin Gateway of India and Kalbadevi blasts
of 2003.
These facts came to light only after the Mumbai
Crime Branch busted the IM module and arrested five members. TOI has written
about Bhatkal's role in terror in Mumbai since the July 2006 serial blasts
on the city's trains.
Two ATS teams had visited his home, in Bhatkal
village in Karnataka, immediately after the 2006 blasts but returned empty-handed.
Villagers said Bhatkal's family, including elder brother Iqbal Bhatkal (who
was a well-known physician), moved out of the village to some undisclosed
location. No one knows where the family is now.
Bhatkal, a class-XII passout, was a SIMI leader
till 2003 when he landed up in Kurla and formed an extortionists' gang, according
to police. Joint commissioner of police (crime) Rakesh Maria confirmed that
Roshan was the same Bhatkal absconding since 2003.
