Did Delhi bomb travel from Malappuram?

KOZHIKODE: Was there a Malayalee hand in the serial blasts that rocked New Delhi on September 13, 2008? There is no definite evidence but the details extracted thus far from the arrested Indian Mujahideen terrorists point to the possibility. Muhammad Saif, who was arrested from Batla House at Jamia Nagar on September 19, 2008, said he had sourced the explosives used in the Delhi blasts from a person called Sharukh from Manipal in Karnataka.

It is now clear that Sharukh is none other than Riyaz Bhatkal, the kingpin of the Indian Mujahideen who is now absconding. Bhatkal is an accused in the Ahmedabad and Hyderabad explosions as well. There are indications that the explosives sent by Bhatkal were made by E T Sainudheen alias Sathar Bahi, a bomb-making expert from Kondotty in Malappuram district.

Sainudheen told the police that he met Bhatkal at a lodge in Kuttippuram in April, 2008. Bhatkal wanted Sainudheen to make 50 bombs with the timers set between one and ninety-nine hours. The IM leader said the targets were Mumbai, Delhi and Gujarat.

Later Bhatkal asked for 20 more bombs.

There is proof that the bombs with timer devices fixed by Sainudheen were used at Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Surat. The bombs planted at Surat did not explode because they were prepared by Sainudheen’s son Sharafudheen, who is a novice in bomb-making. But it is not clear whether the bombs made by Sainudheen were used for the Delhi blasts.

Muhammad Noushad, who was arrested in connection in the Hyderabad and Ahmedabad blast cases, has told the police that Bhatkal knew the persons arrested from Batla house. When the news of the encounter appeared in the newspaper Bhatkal allegedly told Noushad that they were ‘his boys’.

Mohammad Akbar Ismail Choudary, an accused in the Ahmedabad and Delhi blasts, told interrogators that there were two unknown persons in the house he had stayed in before the Ahmedabad blasts.

Later he identified them as the two boys killed in the encounter at Batla House.

Abdul Hameed alias Ameer Ali from Mattancherry, who is now in police custody in a case related to Kerala terror links, has also made a surprising revelation.

He told the police that Sabir alias Ayub from Kannur, another accused in the case, was present in Delhi during the time of the blasts.

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