Breaking news helps Yasin Bhatkal associates Waqas and Tehseen Akhtar to escape

NEW DELHI: Investigators lost the chance to nab Indian Mujahedeen’s two main bombers Waqas and Tehseen Akhtar, thanks to an untimely leak of information of Yasin Bhatkal’s arrest on August 29 morning. TV news reports alerted the duo to escape from a hideout in Mangalore immediately.

A senior government official, on the condition of anonymity, confirmed to ET that the Intelligence Bureau wanted to keep Bhatkal’s arrest a secret for the first 24 hours and pointed out that even Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde was not aware of the development till the news broke on television channels around 9:45 am on August 29. He was only later briefed by Home Secretary Anil Goswami and Intelligence Bureau chief Asif Ibrahim about the same.

“In such a major top-secret operation that led to nabbing of IM head Yasin Bhatkal and his right-hand man Asadullah Akhtar, the first 24 hours of the interrogation are crucial for investigators looking for a clue on absconding associates who could be quickly nabbed.

However, the information of the arrest was leaked to the media and that golden opportunity was lost,” the government official said.
The worst fears of the NIA and IB came true when they raided Flat number 301 on the third floor of Zephyr Heights Apartments on Attavar Road in Mangalore, days after Bhatkal’s arrest. The flat was found abandoned, though several improvised explosive devices, digital timers, explosives and bomb detonators were strewn all over the flat.