Sainudheen spills more on Riaz Bhatkal

KOZHIKODE: Interrogation of Sainudheen alias Abdul Sattar, arrested by the police in Hyderabad on Tuesday, has yielded vital information on Riaz Bhatkal, one of the most wanted Indian Mujahideen leaders in the country.

Sources said Sainudheen had admitted to having harboured Riaz at his house in Hyderabad many times. He is expected to spill more information on Riaz in the coming days. Riaz, an associate of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, is the main suspect in all the major blasts that have rocked the country, post-Babri. A native of Bhatkal in Karnataka, he popped up on the radar of investigating agencies after the explosions on Mumbai suburban trains.

He personally planted bombs at Gokul Chat in Hyderabad and supplied explosives for manufacture of bombs used elsewhere.

The boat-shaped bombs recovered from Surat are typical of the explosives made by the Bhatkal gang. Sayyad Mohammad Noushad, who transported explosives from Karnataka to Gujarat, had told the police that Riaz was a devout Muslim, with a zeal for observing Islamic practices.

According to Noushad, Riaz is a good speaker who could “motivate the youths into the way of jihad”. Those killed in the Batla House encounter in New Delhi were his close associates. “Riaz told me as much,” Noushad said during the interrogation.

The police suspect that Riaz had a hand in the Bangalore blasts too. It was in Surat that he came to know about the Bangalore explosions. A visibly agitated Riaz said “Arey yaar, kyon kiya galath time pe, ye abhi nahin hona hi tha.” Riaz, along with Ahmed Bava, now in police custody, arranged a terror camp at Koppa in Karnataka where training was imparted in making bombs. The police have also established that Riaz had entrusted Sainudheen with manufacture of the timer devices used in the bombs.

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