Indian Mujahideen terrorist arrested in Saharanpur

An Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative who was allegedly involved in the 2010 Jama Masjid bomb blast in New Delhi has been arrested, police said Saturday.

Ajaz Sheikh, 27, a resident of Pune in Maharashtra, was arrested Friday night from the Saharanpur railway station in western Uttar Pradesh during a joint operation by the Delhi Police and the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).

A key Indian Mujahideen operative Sheikh -- who was the "silent" India-based techie, logistics supporter and hawala router for the IM operatives in India -- was on the radar of the security agencies for more than three months.

He is suspected to have played an important role in "facilitating" the blast, an official told IANS, adding Sheikh was "in the thick of IM operations" in the country.

Sheikh was sent to 10 days' police custody by a Delhi court Saturday. A sessions judge allowed Delhi Police to quiz him till Sep 16.

Before fleeing to Nepal in 2013 after the arrest of IM's co-founder Yasin Bhatkal, he was residing in house number 306 situated on the second floor of Galaxy Apartment in Ghorpade Peth, Pune.

His arrest led the police to unravel the mystery of two IM e-mails sent after the Sep 19, 2010 Delhi's Jama Masjid shooting followed by a blast and the same year's Dec 7 serial blasts at Sheetla Ghat in Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh).

"In spite of busting several IM modules and the recent arrests of Yasin Bhatkal, Tehsin Akhtar, Assadullah Akhtar, Waqas and other top terrorists, the identity of the person who had sent the e-mails after the Jama Masjid and Sheetla Ghat terror strikes was a mystery," said Special Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) S.N. Srivastava.

Sheikh, investigators said, was technically super-smart and had practically left no trace of his identity while espousing the nefarious claims of IM before the national media.

Besides sending e-mails, he used to prepare fake identity cards required by the IM operatives, procure SIM cards, collect Western Union Money Transfers, obtain rooms on rent and even enrol professional educational institutions as a cover.