AHMEDABAD SERIAL BLASTS: ACCUSED TAKEN TO GUJARAT

PATNA: Terror suspect Mohammad Tauseef Khan was on Monday flown to Gujarat from Bihar’s Gaya town to face trial in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts that killed 56 people and wounded 200 others.

Khan was taken to Ahmedabad in a chartered aircraft after the court of Gaya chief judicial magistrate granted his transit remand to the anti-terror squad (ATS) of Gujarat police. Khan was taken to the Gaya airport from the central jail by the ATS under tight security.

Gujarat ATS senior inspector SL Chaudhary said Khan was charged with planting bombs in buses and at market places in Ahmedabad in 2008. He was accused in 38 more cases of terror in Ahmedabad and Surat, Chaudhary told reporters outside the central jail. Tauseef Khan and his associate Shane Khan were nabbed in Gaya town, about 100 kms south of state capital, Patna, on September 13 by cyber café operator Anurag Basu, who also edits vernacular monthly ‘Saf Swar’, and handed over to the Civil Lines police. His another aide Sarwar Khan was arrested by Gaya police later.

Tauseef Khan was residing in Gaya since 2009 to weave out a network of radical sleeper cells. While working as a mathematics teacher at a private school in the district, Tauseef Khan , an engineering graduate, had allegedly prepared more than 50 students for jehad.

Bihar ATS deputy superintendent of police Kundan Kumar Singh, who was present at the airport, however, could not question Tauseef Khan on some points related to his forged credentials.

“All his credentials, including marksheets, certificates and, residential proof, have been found to be fake. We will soon visit Ahmedabad to quiz him further and find out who had helped him to procure the forged documents,” Singh said.

On being asked about the status of the chargesheet against Khan in the Gaya case, Singh said it would be submitted within a month or two.

WHILE WORKING AS A MATHEMATICS TEACHER AT A PRIVATE SCHOOL IN THE DISTRICT, TAUSEEF KHAN, AN ENGINEERING GRADUATE, HAD ALLEGEDLY PREPARED MORE THAN 50 STUDENTS FOR JEHAD