Mumbai: The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad,
probing the July 13 triple blasts case, was today granted the
custody of jailed Indian Mujahideen operative Haroon Naik,
accused of participating in a criminal conspiracy and
providing financial aid to carry out the terror strikes, till
February 10.
Naik, who is currently lodged in Taloja jail on the
outskirts of the city in a fake currency case, is the fourth
person to be arrested in connection with the case.
He was apprehended on August 22 for allegedly possessing
fake currency to the tune of Rs 80,000 from here.
It was with Naik`s arrest that the investigating agency
stumbled upon the money trail in the July 13 triple blasts and
zeroed in on IM as perpetrators.
Naik was today produced before the court of local
metropolitan magistrate after the ATS had sought his custody
in the blasts case.
The IM operative is suspected to have been in contact with
several other IM members and the probe agency wants to
investigate about his links, sources said.
Terror struck Mumbai on July 13 last year when three
near-simultaneous blasts ripped through crowded areas in
the city.
The first explosion rocked Zaveri Bazar, a bustling
jewellery market, at 6.50 pm and a minute later another blast
shook the busy business area Opera House. A third blast ripped
through crowded Dadar area in Central Mumbai at 7.04 pm.
On Monday, a suspected hawala operator Kanwar Nain Wazeer
Chand Patrija (42), who allegedly handed over Rs 10 lakh to
fugitive IM top operative Yasin Bhatkal to execute the blasts
that killed 27 people, was arrested from Delhi, police said.
PTI
