Deccan Herald Daily

Bangalore/Chennai, Jan 5: Abdul Rehman, a Mangalorean the LeT militant in Bangalore police custody, has allegedly admitted his role in the December-28 IISc attack, but has not divulged the specifics, sources said.

In what appears to be an intensified operation to crack the militant network in the South India exposed by the IISc attack, five persons including two maulvis have been picked up — three in Chennai and two in Kolar — by local police in co-ordination with the Bangalore team.

Revelations made by Rehman during interrogation are said to have led to these detentions.
 

Rumours are rife that Rehman was not nabbed in Nalgonda but in Karnataka and that he is likely to be a small fish and not someone from the top echelons of the Lashkar-e-Toiba as being claimed.

However, the sources clarified that Rehman is the operations head who had a key role in identifying terror targets in South India as well as recruiting manpower to execute LeT designs.

His long stint in Saudi Arabia is only an alibi to cover his role in South India. Operating out of the Gulf, he frequented South India to finalise recruitments made by his subordinates, they claimed.

Rehman had been co-ordinating the activities through some religious organisations which propagated hate ideologies. After screening by Rehman, the recruits were sent to camps in Bangladesh for training, the sources said.

Son of a retired police constable, Rehman has had no previous criminal records. Efforts are on to find out how he got into the terror network, the police said.

Masti arrests

Meanwhile, the Kolar Central Crime Branch took into custody a maulvi, hailing from Uttar Pradesh and settled in Mulbagal, and his accomplice, Shabeer Ahmed alias Mustaffa, from Masti village of Malur taluk in Kolar district in connection with the IISc attack.

The sources said the maulvi and Mustaffa were experts in manufacturing gelatin sticks used in quarrying and catered to buyers from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

The duo is being interrogated by the police. Mustaffa reportedly holds a licence from the Central Explosives Corporation, Chennai in the name of Kousar agencies, Narasapura in Bangalore Rural District.

3 nabbed in Chennai

The Chennai police, in the meantime, have taken into custody Basheer (45), a maulvi hailing from Mangalore following his alleged links with Rehman.

Basheer was taken into custody at the suburban Koyambedu bus stand on Tuesday night while he was on his way back to Mangalore after a brief stay in Chennai. His friend Abdullah (30) of Chennai, who was at the bus stand to see him off, was also taken into custody along with Omar Farooq.

Following this, a special team from Bangalore led by Inspector Munirathnam Naidu arrived in the Tamil Nadu capital and joined the City police in the interrogation of the two.

Basheer, a maulvi in a mosque in Mangalore, came under police scanner after Rehman revealed that the former had contacted him over mobile phone.

Acting on this, a special team from Bangalore rushed to Mangalore, but came to know that Basheer had already left for Chennai to meet Abdullah. They alerted the Chennai police who picked them from the Koyambedu mofussil bus stand.

The trio will be brought to Bangalore on Thursday, sources said.