Lapse by Mumbai Police Enables Yaseen Bhatkal to Flee

Daijiworld Media Network 

Mumbai, Jan 20: It has now been revealed that the over-smart Mumbai police had allowed Yaseen Bhatkal, an alleged Indian Mujahideen terrorist who is in the most wanted list of the intelligence agencies, to slip out of their hands by taking wrong measures.

It is learnt that the police, who were investigating the incidents of bomb blasts in highly populated markets in Mumbai, had concluded that Yaseen Bhatkal had played the main role in these blasts. Yaseen used to work in Bihar in the guise of an Ayurvedic physician, by identifying himself as ‘Dr Imran’.

In 2008, he had come into contact with an Arabic student named Gayur Ahmed Jamali. While Yaseen repeatedly placed the argument before Jamali during their meetings that Muslims should avenge the atrocities being heaped on them in the country, Jamali opposed this arguments, and put forth drastically opposite views.

Yaseen had requested Jamali to scout for a room for him in Mumbai, saying that he was to visit Mumbai on some work. Jamali, who did not know that the person he was assisting was a dreaded terrorist, contacted a person named Naqi Ahmed and requested him to look for an accommodation. Nakhi Ahmed, a dealer in leather, found an apartment for Yaseen and his two friends in Byculla area. The three terrorists visited Mumbai during November 2011, saw the apartment, and paid an advance of one lac rupees to the owner.

In December last, the house owner, a lady, received a call from ‘Dr Imran’, seeking refund of Rs 84,000 after deducting rent on the apartment. Although the intelligence agencies intercepted this conversation, they could not pinpoint the location from where the call was made, due to technical glitch. The Delhi police, however, used Naqi Ahmed as their informant to locate Yaseen, and conveyed this information to Mumbai police, hoping that they would take prompt action and nab the terrorist.

The Mumbai police, instead of guarding this secret information and keeping an eye on the apartment hired by Yaseen, went overboard and arrested owner of the apartment where Yaseen had stayed, Naqi Ahmed as well as some others concerned, by raiding their residences. Naqi, who had provided such valuable information to the intelligence agencies, was arrested on the charge of obtaining mobile connection by providing false documents. His brother, Toukhi, was also put behind bars. These actions alerted Yaseen, who went underground and cancelled his visit to the metro, the sources said.

The siblings, who are behind the bars now for the mistake of helping the police to find out Yaseen Bhatkal, are now repenting, it is learnt. At the same time, the policemen who made a mess of the matter have gone unscathed.