NIA finds out: Night before blast on Ujjain train, bid to bomb Pushpak Express failed

the bomb on the Pushpak Express, they got desperate. They managed to get into the last coach of the Bhopal-ujjain train that was about to leave the station, left the bag filled with explosives and got off”, sources said. The explosion left 10 persons injured.

From the question of the arrested men, the NIA has learnt that the four — Saifullah included — met each other in December 2015 and two months later, in February 2016, they decided to form a group in the name of jihad. “They rented a room in Lucknow where they gave themselves “code” names — Jiya Abu Ibrahim for Atif; Jafar Abu Ismail for Danish; Ali Abu Makaiel for Saifullah; and, Hamza Abu Waqas for Husain,” sources said.

Syed Mir Husain told his interrogators that they used the code names while interacting with each other, and also with the intention of hiding their original identities. “Saifullah had even made a fake ID card in the name of Ali,” sources said.

For one year, from February 2016 to February 2017, the four travelled across the country, hoping to cross over into Pakistan from Jammu, Kashmir, Punjab and Rajasthan; or into Bangladesh, but found it was not as simple as they had imagined.

Theyalsowenttokozhikodeinkeralato explorewaysof“migratingtothecaliphate”. Whiletheydidnotmeetwithmuchsuccess, they met several persons who they thought could help them establish contact with the Islamic State, sources said. In July 2016, during Ramzan, Atif became the Ameer of the group and the four took the oath of allegiance to the Islamic State.

As it pieces together the run-up to the March 7 blast, this is what the NIA has learnt from the questioning of the arrested men:

■ February 25-26, 2017: Atif and Danish wenttokanpuronamotorcycletopurchase weapons through Atif’s contacts there. They had Rs 2-2.5 lakh in their possession.

■ March 2: Atif and Danish returned to Lucknow with four pistols and magazines. They brought 40 packets of small balls (around 100 balls/splinters in each packet), iron caps and six pieces (two inch) used to close the mouth of iron pipe; a toy watergun and gulail (catapult) for target practice; two alarm clocks and a knife. The same day, they purchased T-type iron elbow (three pieces) and M-seal (one packet) and two Fevikwik tubes.

■ March 3: Around 6 am, Atif took Husain to a forest area four kilometres from their room for firing practice. Husain used two weapons for firing. One could not fire properly, but the second fired perfectly. The same evening, Atif completed assembling the bomb with a clock. They kept the bomb in a polythene bag. Danish and Saifullah started making three more bombs. Husain told his interrogators that it was the “first time” that he was making a bomb, so “Atif helped step-by-step”. He said “Danish and Saifullah were well versed in techniques to make a bomb”.

■ March 4: Hussain and Atif again went to the same forest area for firing practice. Husain used two pistols, but one did not work. Another weapon tested by Atif also “did not fire properly”. Around noon, Gous Mohammad Khan (a former airman), known to Atif, came to their room and inspected the weapons and the progress on the bombs. In the evening, Husain, Saifullah, Danish, Atif and Khan sat together, marked their target location on a map and chose to plant the bomb “at a place having large gathering so that there is maximum loss of lives”. They decided to plant the bomb on the Pushpak Express. As Danish was familiar with Bhopal, they “finalised to plant the bomb in Pushpak Express before it reaches Bhopal”. Khan left at night.

■ March 5: Husain and Danish purchased a “normal plastic jhola” (sling bag) to carry the bombs from the market in Dubagga. “We wanted an ordinary-looking bag since all the bags that we had were with some identification marks,” Husain told his NIA interrogators. They put the bombs in a polythene bag, then in the jhola which was kept in Danish’s “grey and red colour bag”.

■ March 6: At 4.45 pm, Atif and Danish went to the Lucknow railway station. They carried two dummy bags to see if they could sneak into the train without getting their bags checked. Danish’s bag that had the bombs were left with Husain in the room. Atif had purchased three tickets of Pushpak Express from Lucknow to Bhopal. They returned and took Husain and Saifullah along with the bag to the railway station. Saifullah did not board the train and returned to the room on Atif’s motorcycle. Danish, Atif and Husain boarded Pushpak Express. They left Lucknow around 7.30 pm. The train was packed.

■ March 7: They reached Bhopal around 8 am “but could not plant the bomb because of heavy rush and alert passengers,” Husain told NIA interrogators. They got off the train. It was then they realised that the Bhopal-ujjain passenger train was waiting to depart. Around 8.30 am, Atif and Danish succeeded in planting the IED in the last passenger coach of the train. They also took photographs of the planted IED to send it to their handler. They left the station, had breakfast at a tea-stall and boarded a bus for Pipariya. It was during this journey they were arrested.