Mumbai: Nearly seven months after the
February 13 Pune German Backery blast left 17 dead and 56
injured, Maharashtra ATS today claimed to have cracked the
case with the arrest of two LeT operatives.
Mirza Himayat Baig (29), head of Maharashtra LeT
module, was arrested from Mahatma Gandhi bus stand in Pune
yesterday afternoon, while his aide Shaikh Lalbaba Mohammed
Hussain alias Bilal was nabbed from Subash Chandra Bose Marg
in Nashik last night, Maharashtra ATS chief Rakesh Maria said.
"Both played a key role in engineering the Pune blast.
The conspiracy was hatched in Udgir town in Latur district in
January," he said.
A Pune court later remanded Baig in police custody
till September 20.
The investigation took ATS teams to several places in
Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Gujarat,
Daman and various other states, Maria said.
Two kg of RDX, soldering wires, cutters, LeT
literature, manuals for making bombs, USD 1,200, Rs 10,500
cash, SIM cards procured using fake documents, mobile phones
and pen drives were recovered from the duo, he said.
Baig had conducted recce of the German Bakery and was
also involved in planting the bomb with Mohmmad Ahmed Zarar
Siddibappa alias Yasin, a key Indian Mujahideen leader.
He was instrumental in bringing together the accused
of 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case and Indian Mujahideen module
to hatch the conspiracy and carry out the blast in the German
Bakery.
Maria said Shaikh had visited LeT camps in Pakistan
between January 2008 and early 2010 where he received advanced
training in use of sophisticated weapons and making bombs.
He had sneaked into India thrice during the period
through Bangladesh and Nepal border.
A mobile alarm timer was used to trigger the RDX-laden
bomb and the image of Mohammed Ahmed alias Yasin was caught by
CCTV camera at the eatery, frequented in large numbers by
foreigners, Maria said.
Baig was standing outside when the Mohammed had gone
inside the bakery to plant the device, he said.
"In January, Baig along with Mohammed Ahmed and Mohsin
Choudhary, another IM member, had held a meeting to at Baig's
Internet cafe in Udgir in Latur district to select their
targets and German bakery was chosen as it was frequented by
foreigners," said Maria.
"On February 3, another meeting was held in Udgir.
From February 7, they started making bombs which were brought
to Pune a day before the blast. On February 13, Mohammed Ahmed
took the bomb to the bakery around 4 pm and left within a
couple of minutes," he said.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, September 08, 2010, 19:02