‘Yasin Bhatkal was in touch with Jihadi outfits from Kerala, Karnataka’

published on September 4, 2013

Investigation into alleged IM co-founder Yasin Bhatkal’s activities during his time in Dubai and India since 2005 has revealed that he was constantly in touch with members of two youth outfits from Karnataka and Kerala.

Bhatkal’s interrogation revealed that he would frequently meet members of the National Development Front (NDF) in Kerala and the Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD) while living in Dubai and Karnataka.

The findings add credence to revelations made in 2008 by IM members arrested in Mangalore, who claimed that the IM had infiltrated the ranks of the two outfits. In October 2008, two arrested IM members — Ahmed Bawa and Syed Noushad — revealed that they, along with Bhatkal, participated in a freedom parade organised by the KFD in Mangalore.

“Bhatkal seems to have been constantly in the company of active cadres of these two groups. Despite knowledge being available nearly five years ago, no effort was made to find out details of members of these groups living abroad. This may have helped find Yasin Bhatkal earlier,” sources said.

Despite fears that the two youth outfits were new versions of the proscribed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), NDF and KFD have been recognised as political outfits not involved in terrorist activities.

Investigators also found that Bhatkal allegedly carried out bombings in south India with no local support.

“Initially it was suspected that they had local support to get houses ahead of the Chinnaswamy Stadium blast in April 2010 in Bangalore and the Dilsukhnagar blast in February 2013 in Hyderabad. We now know there was no local support,” sources said. “There is a need to think of strategies on how local police units can prevent operations where people come in and carry out bombings with no local support. There needs to be some sort of verification system for tenants.”

Read More :www.indianexpress.com/news/yasin-was-in-touch-with-youth-outfits-from-kerala-karnataka/1164774/