Mastermind of ’ 08 Gujarat blasts held after shootout
Wanted terrorist given police custody for 2 weeks by Delhi court
The 2008 Gujarat bombings mastermind Abdul Subhan Qureshi has been arrested by the Delhi police following an exchange of fire days ahead of Republic Day, the police said on Monday.
Qureshi was handed over to the Delhi police by a city court for custodial interrogation for two weeks.
Qureshi, co- founder of the Indian Mujahideen ( IM) and linked to the Students Islamic Movement of India ( Simi), was arrested from Ghazipur in East Delhi on Saturday evening.
The Ahmedabad bombings were a series of as many as 21 bomb blasts that had hit the city on July 26, 2008, within a span of 70 minutes. As many as 56 people were killed and over 200 people were injured.
DCP Pramod Kushwaha ( special cell), said Qureshi was living with forged documents in Nepal. He came back to India to revive the Indian Mujahideen. “We have arrested India’s most wanted terrorist Abdul Subhan Qureshi, who is also the founder of Indian Mujahideen. He was again trying to revive Indian Mujahideen,” Mr Kushwaha said.
In September 2008, the police had arrested Abu Basher, who was the key accused in the Ahmedabad blasts case. Basher had allegedly stayed in a house in New Delhi with Qureshi, alias Tauqeer.
According to the police, the special cell was working on leads gathered through the interrogation of the many arrested accused having links with IM and SIMI after the escape of Qureshi in the year 2008. It emerged that the accused was indoctrinating the unemployed youth to fill the space left void by the fall of the top leaders of Indian Mujahedeen. He was planning the revival of the weak and scattered network of Indian Mujahedeen.
Qureshi, who is an alleged bombmaker, was arrested by the special cell of the Delhi police after a brief exchange of fire. Earlier, the Gujarat police had started the manhunt for Qureshi, just a day after the blasts had rocked Ahmedabad on July 26, 2008. The Gujarat police had first announced Qureshi’s name as a suspect in the blasts while probing an email that had taken the responsibility of the bombings. The email was sent to TV channels using an American Wi- Fi network.