Maharashtra police have approached the Centre to ascertain from the Saudi authorities if Abdullah Qalzar Khan, the Jeddah suicide bomber, was in fact Lashkar operative Faiyaz Kagzi from Beed district, and will send a Letter Rogatory to the Saudi government through it.
"We have started the process of sending a Letter Rogatory (letter of request) to the Saudi government through the MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs)," a top Maharashtra police official told PTI.
On July 4, Islam's holiest pilgrimage site and Prophet Muhammad's mosque Al-Haram Al-Nabawi at Medina, the US consulate at Jeddah and Shia-majority Qatif were targeted by suicide bombers. Four Saudi security personnel were killed in the bombings.
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During the initial investigations, the security forces got to know that one of the suicide bombers, who blew himself up in Jeddah, was Abdullah Qalzar Khan, a Pakistani national staying in Saudi Arabia for the last 12 years.
After the investigation, a Saudi Interior Ministry report said the bomber was Faiyaz Kagzi from Beed in Maharashtra. Altogether, 19 persons were arrested by the Saudi forces in connection with the bombings, including 12 Pakistanis and seven Saudis.
The photograph of Abdullah issued by the Saudi authorities resembled Kagzi, the official said, adding that Maharashtra police and the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) had alerted official channels to get a confirmation of the same.
Maharashtra police had written to the Ministry of Home Affairs to confirm from the Saudi authorities whether the bomber was Kagzi.
After getting the nod from the ministry, they started the procedure of sending a Letter Rogatory under section 166(A), CrPC.
Accordingly, India will ask the Saudi authorities to probe if the person who blew himself up in Jeddah was Kagzi. The Indian authorities will collect the DNA samples of the suicide bomber and match them with those of his parents in Beed, the official said.
Kagzi is known to be a close aide of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks handler Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal and is allegedly involved in various terror attacks in India.
He is a former SIMI man who fled India after the Aurangabad arms haul case. He reportedly went to Pakistan via Bangladesh in 2006 and joined terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). He was on the job of recruiting Indian youths for carrying out terror activities for LeT, the official said.
Kagzi is also suspected to be involved in Pune's German Bakery blasts which were carried out by the Indian Mujahideen (IM), he added.
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