Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru
Mangaluru, July 24: In a significant development in the 2008 Ullal terror case, Yasin Bhatkal alias Sharukh alias Dr Arajoo, a key accused who had been absconding for several years during trial proceedings, was produced before the court on Thursday, July 24 via video conference from Tihar Central Jail, Delhi.
The case, registered as Crime No. 242/2008 at Ullal police station, pertains to a criminal conspiracy allegedly plotted by members of the banned Indian Mujahideen organisation to carry out terror attacks across various locations in the country. The conspiracy is said to have been planned in areas under the Ullal police station limits, specifically in Mukkacheri and Chembugudde, where explosives and materials used to manufacture them were reportedly stored.
Yasin Bhatkal (File photo)
The then Dakshina Kannada district DCIB officials had arrested seven members of the outfit in connection with the case on October 4, 2008. Six other accused in the case continue to remain absconding.
Chargesheets were filed against the arrested accused, and trial proceedings led to life imprisonment for three of them—Syed Mohammad Naushad, Ahmed Bava Aboobakkar (33), and Fakir Ahmed alias Fakir. Four others—Mohammad Ali, Javed Ali, Mohammad Rafiq, and Shabbir Bhatkal—were acquitted by the court in its final verdict delivered on April 12, 2017.
However, Yasin Bhatkal's trial remained pending, as he was absconding during the proceedings. Currently serving a sentence in Tihar Jail for his involvement in the Hyderabad bomb blast case, Bhatkal was not produced in court for years in connection with the Ullal case.
Acting on this, officials from Ullal police station coordinated with prison authorities in Delhi and took the necessary steps to produce Yasin Bhatkal before the JMFC Court, Mangaluru, through video conferencing on July 24. The court has now scheduled the next hearing for August 20, 2025.