Hyderabad: Indian Mujahideen (IM) co-founder Yasin Bhatkal and four other men were held guilty on Tuesday in connection with the 2013 twin bomb blasts in Hyderabad's Dilsukhnagar by a special NIA court, in the first ever conviction of banned outfit’s cadres in a terror case.
Pronouncing the judgement, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) special court in Hyderabad fixed December 19 as the date for announcing the quantum of punishment for the five IM operatives.
The five accused found guilty are Bhatkal alias Mohammed Ahmed Siddibappa, Asadullah Akhtar alias Haddi, Tahseen Akhtar alias Monu, Pakistani national Zia ur Rehman alias Waqas, and Ajaz Shaikh.
Here is what we know about him:-
-Yasin Bhatkal was born as Ahmed Siddibapa in Karnataka’s Bhatkal town in 1983.
-Become IM’s India operations head after founders Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal fled to Pak in 2008, post-Batla House encounter.
-Set up bomb factory in Delhi’s Mir Vihar.
-Came on Investigators’ radar as Shahrukh in 2008 for supplying IEDs for Delhi blasts.
-Arrested in 2009 in Kolkata for theft but off as cops didn’t know his identity. Gave Delhi Police the slip in Tamil Nadu in 2011.
-Nabbed at Nepal border, the second big catch in 2 weeks after LeT bombmaker Abdul Karim Tunda.
-Carries Rs 10 lakh reward.
-He made IM partner of the Lashkar-e-Toiba in crimes against India.
-The Bodh Gaya blasts as a prime example of their coordinated action.
-Yasin Bhatkal was instrumental in setting up the IM’s Darbhanga module in the state.
-He travelled there often to find new hideouts and recruits
