Mumbai: The "Uncle" who was instructing
the two arrested suspected terrorists to carry out terror acts
in the city, could be Bashir Khan, an absconding accused in
the 1993 serial bomb blasts case, ATS officials said Tuesday.
"The verification to establish the identity of this
Uncle is still on. We cannot conclude that it is Bashir Khan
yet, but at the same time we also cannot deny. The Uncle could
be Bashir," an ATS official said.
Bashir Khan is an aide of Tiger Memon, who is closely
associated with underworld fugitive Dawood Ibrahim and one of
the masterminds of the 1993 blasts. Khan is accused of having
transported explosives to Mumbai prior to the serial blasts.
The ATS had on Sunday arrested two persons -- Abdul
Latif alias Guddu (29) and Riyaz Ali alias Rehan (23) -- for
allegedly planning to carry out terrorist attacks in the city.
The duo had allegedly conducted a recce of three
targets in the city -- headquarters of public sector petroleum
company Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Thakkar Mall
in suburban Mumbai and Mangaldas Market in south Mumbai.
According to the ATS, the duo was directed by a person
addressed as "Uncle".
"The 'Uncle' is a close aide of Dawood and had escaped
to Pakistan following the 1993 serial bomb blasts," the
official said.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, March 16, 2010, 16:22