Key LeT operative wanted in many blast cases in police net

In a prized catch, a key LeT operative who worked for banned Indian Mujahideen and was wanted for his alleged involvement in several cases of blasts after demolition of Babri Masjid was arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi Police from Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh.
Police said 49-year-old Irfan Ahmad alias Pappu, on the run for past 15 years, was also tasked with recruiting Indian youths and sending them to Pakistan for training in handling of arms and ammunition as well as fabrication of IEDs.
The terrorist was arrested from Bahraich near Indo-Nepal border on May 7.
"To take revenge of Babri mosque demolition, Irfan along with his associates successfully executed bomb blasts on various trains in Kanpur, Hyderabad, Indergarh in Rajasthan, Surat, Lucknow and Gulbarga," said a senior Delhi Police official.

The LeT operative was arrested by the CBI in January 1994 along with militant Jalees Ansari who was also allegedly involved in a series of bomb blasts in several trains across India.
Investigators said he also worked for Indian Mujahideen.

"Irfan was convicted in 1999 in a case registered by the Special Cell but the trial in the cases lodged by the CBI was pending. In 2001, Irfan was given parole to attend his brother's marriage in Bahraich but he jumped the parole. He was on the run since then," the official said.
Irfan was lodged in Nepal jail for five years in connection with a case of taking a Nepalese citizenship on forged documents but had escaped jail after the quake in the Himalayan nation.

When he was lodged in Tihar jail between 1996 and 1999, he became a close friend of Aasif Reza Khan who was imprisoned in a TADA case.
"The association with Aasif Reza, later killed in a police encounter in Gujarat, proved to be the beginning of the second innings in Irfan's terrorist life.
"In Tihar, Aasif had ganged up with Pakistani terrorists like Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar (who was released in the Kandhahar hijacking case) and had been absorbed by the ISI as the Indian face for a new Tanzeem, later known as the Indian Mujahideen," the official said.
He said Irfan wanted to start a jihad in India for which he was given the task to recruit Indians and send them to Pakistan for training in the handling of arms and ammunition.