IM operative sent to police custody

Top Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative Tehsin Akhtar alias Monu was remanded in police custody till April 2 by a court here Wednesday.

Akhtar was produced here before a judge, who handed his custody to police till April 2.

Akhtar, outlawed IM's current chief of Indian operations and is an expert in bomb-making, was formally arrested near Kakarvitta on the Nepal border Tuesday morning while he was entering India. He was coming from Kathmandu.

Police officials described the arrest as a major breakthrough in the war against the shadowy group blamed for several terror attacks across the country.

Akhtar, once a close aide and a protege of arrested IM's co-founder Ahmad Siddibappa Zarar alias Yasin Bhatkal, was wanted for a series of terrorist strikes in various states.