IM operative strangled to death in Pune jail by inmates

Maharashtra Government promptly acted by suspending Jail Superintendent S V Khatavkar and ordering a CID probe into the murder of Mohammad Qateel Siddiqui, who was named in Bangalore stadium blast, Delhi Jama Masjid firing case and an abortive attempt to bomb a temple in Pune.

The 26-year-old, who was found dead in his cell, had been remanded to judicial custody by a court here in a case filed by Maharashtra ATS in which he was accused of attempting to plant a bomb at the famous Shrimant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganapti Temple in the heart of Pune in 2010.

"In a pre-planned crime, Qateel, a close of aide of the home-grown terror outfit's top operative Yasin Bhatkal, was strangled to death with the string of an undergarment by inmates for being anti-national," police sources said.

Preliminary probe blamed two inmates, Sharad Mohol and Alok Bhalerao, for the murder following a brawl, but there was no official confirmation of it. Both Mohol and Bhalerao are facing charges under MCOCA and lodged in the jail since February this year.

"We are not in a position to confirm anything and the circumstances surrounding the murder are being investigated," a police officer attached to Yerwada Police Station said.

Qateel, who had allegedly planned to bomb the temple on February 13, 2010 at Bhatkal's instructions, was nabbed by Delhi Police in Jama Masjid firing case in November last year.

Qateel had planned the attack on the same day when another group planted a bomb at the German Bakery in Pune that killed 17 people, including foreign nationals, and injured at least 60 others. The ATS is yet to file a charge sheet in the temple terror case. (MORE)