Three Indian Mujahideen terrorists arrested, strike averted: Delhi Police

NEW DELHI: With the arrest of three alleged Indian Mujahideen terrorists from the capital, Delhi Police has claimed it has solved the August 1 blast incident in Pune. It also claimed to have averted possible terror strikes in Delhi and Bihar's Bodhgaya.

A MHA source claimed Delhi Police had achieved this success without any tip-off from the Intelligence Bureau and it was a 'major catch' for the special cell of the force. The three arrested men, Asad Khan, Imran Khan and Syed Firoze, are allegedly the men who manufactured the bombs that went off in Pune on August 1, injuring one person.

Home ministry sources added that the men had initially planned to conduct serial blasts in Mumbai but changed the plan to Pune after the murder of IM operative Qateel Siddique inside Pune jail by two other inmates. "The Pune blasts were to avenge the murder of IM operative Qateel Siddique. The Bhatkal brothers - Riyaz and Iqbal - ordered the strike," Delhi police commissioner Neeraj Kumar said on Thursday.

The MHA source said the three men landed in Delhi to carry out a 'massive strike' during the upcoming festive season and also to target foreign tourists in Bodhgaya. Neeraj Kumar said Asad Khan - a computer expert, recruiter, motivator and ideologue of IM - and Imran Khan were arrested on September 26, from their hideout in Pul Prehladpur in south Delhi.

Syed Firoze (38) was apprehended from Nizamuddin railway station five days later. Police kept the matter under wraps as the hunt is on for other accomplices of the arrested persons, a MHA source said. The police commissioner claimed the tip-off on the present module had come from the interrogation of LeT terrorist Abu Jundal. A key IM terrorist based in Saudi Arabia, Fayaz Ahmed Qagzi from Beed in Maharashtra, is top on the police hit-list after the arrested trio revealed that Qagzi was coordinating with them and passing them on instructions from the Bhatkal brothers, who now wanted a terror strike in Delhi.