Life lost in jail: Secret AP police report cleared ’05 Delhi blast accused but no one acted on it

RAFIQ SHAH, HUSSAIN FAZILI ACQUITTED EARLY FEB; REPORT BLAMED INDIAN MUJAHIDEEN

THE INTELLIGENCE Bureau and the Delhi Police were aware, as early as in the spring of 2009, of newevidencesuggestingthatthe three Kashmiri men then under trialforcarryingoutblastsinnew Delhiin2005hadnoroleintheattack, documents obtained by The Indian Express reveal.

There were three blasts that took place in Sarojini Nagar, Govindpuri and Paharganj on October 20, 2005, a day before Diwali. Over 60 people were killed.

Even though the Union Ministry of Home Affairs was made aware of this evidence, no re-investigation was ordered in this and in two other similar cases, government sources have confirmed to this newspaper.

Earlier this month, Mohammad Rafiq Shah and Mohammad Hussain Fazili were acquitted of all charges related to their role in the 2005 Delhi bombings. A third, Tariq Dar, was convicted of charges related to supporting terrorism but cleared of a role in the actual strike.

In a separate case, Mohammad Waliullah, a former Imam at a mosque in Phulpur, Allahabad, was sentenced to serve 10 years for his role in the bombing of Varanasi’s Ashwamedh Ghat on February 23, 2005. He is currently held in Dasna jail.

The third case, the serial bombing of Mumbai’s suburban train system on July 11, 2006, has seen five death sentences being handed down.

But according to a classified dossier prepared in March 2009 by the Andhra Pradesh Police’s OCTOPUS counter-terrorism cell and circulated to sister organisations nationwide, both forensic data and the testimony of suspects under interrogation contain evidence that these three attacks were, in fact, carried out by the Indian Mujahideen — and not the individuals charged.

P Chidambaram, then Union Home Minister, said he could not “recall the connection of the Indian Mujahideen to the other (three) cases mentioned” by The Indian Express. “Maybe Intelligence Bureau reports mentioned the Andhra Pradesh

PTI The parents of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, who was killed in Kansas, in Hyderabad on Friday.

Shuaib Masoodi Mohammad Hussain Fazili (above) with his mother, Mohammad Rafiq Shah (left) with his father after their release.