News Analysis India

Tag: Gujarat ATS

  • 29 years on, Gujarat ATS arrest four men wanted in 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case

    By PTI

    AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) has arrested four persons wanted in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, officials said on Tuesday. Abu Bakar, Saiyad Qureshi, Mohammad Shoeb Qureshi alias Shoeb Bawa and Mohammad Yusuf Ismail alias Yusuf Bhatka, all residents of Mumbai, were on the run for 29 years, they said.

    Addl DGP (ATS) Amit Vishwakarma said that the four were held from Sardarnagar area of Ahmedabad on May 12 following a tip-off.

    At present they have been booked for allegedly obtaining passports on the basis of forged documents for fleeing the country in 1993, and later they would be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the blasts case, said another official.

    “To hide their real identities, they had obtained passports using forged documents. Interpol had issued a Red-Corner Notice against them on the request of the CBI which is probing the blasts case,” Vishwakarma told reporters.

    It was not clear why they were visiting Gujarat, he said, adding that they were arrested under IPC sections 466 (forgery of record), 468 (forgery for cheating) and 120-B(criminal conspiracy) besides under The Passports Act.

    DIG (ATS) Deepan Bhadran said  that in the 1990s, these four used to work for gold smuggler Mohammed Dossa, a henchman of fugitive gangster and the blasts’ mastermind Dawood Ibrahim. “To spread terror in India, Dossa sent them to a country in the Middle East to meet Dawood in February 1993. On Dawood’s directions, they went to Pakistan to get weapons training. Pakistan’s (spy agency) ISI also gave them training in the making and use of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs),” he said.

    All four were part of the conspiracy hatched by Dawood and others to carry out blasts in Mumbai, the DIG added.

    After the serial blasts, they obtained passports using forged documents and fled to different middle-eastern countries, said Bhadran, adding that the special Terrorist and Destructive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) court, which tried the blasts case, declared them “proclaimed offenders”.

    “It is a matter of investigation when they came back to India and what they were doing in Gujarat. Upon completion of their ATS remand in the forgery case, we will hand them over to the CBI in the blasts case,” Bhadran said.

    Abu Bakar was also involved in the dumping of a consignment of weapons into the sea after the blasts, he said. At least 257 persons were killed and over 700 injured in the coordinated bombing that ripped through Mumbai on March 12, 1993.

    While the special TADA court in Mumbai convicted 100 of the accused, main conspirators Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon remain absconding.

  • Gujarat ATS busts arms racket; arrests 24 persons, seizes 54 country-made guns from parts of state

    By PTI

    AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) has busted an illegal arms racket and arrested 24 persons besides seizing 54 country-made guns from parts of the state, mostly the Saurashtra region, a senior official said on Thursday.

    The arrests were made in the last two days, he said.

    Preliminary probe has revealed that two main accused – Devendra Boriya and Champraj Khachar – had sold nearly 100 country-made pistols in different parts of Saurashtra, including in Surendranagar and Rajkot, in the last two years.

    Based on a tip-off, an ATS team nabbed Boria and Khachar, both residents of Surendrangar, from Geeta Mandir area of the Ahmedabad city on May 3, said ATS Deputy Superintendent of Police Harsh Upadhyay.

    “We recovered four country-made pistols from their possession. The duo admitted that they had purchased the guns from Madhya Pradesh and were going to deliver the guns to a Vadodara-based person. They admitted to have sold nearly 100 such pistols in the Saurashtra region in the last two years,” he added.

    Although they used to pay around Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000 for each pistol, they would charge Rs 40,000 to Rs 1 lakh each from their customers, Upadhyay said.

    After getting the details of their customers, the ATS teams nabbed 22 such persons from different parts of the state in 24 hours and recovered 50 pistols from their possession.

    In all, ATS has so far seized 54 illegal guns and arrested 24 persons.

    Further investigation into this illegal arms network is on, the official said.

  • Kishan Bharwad murder case: Gujarat ATS arrests Delhi-based cleric Maulana Qamar Gani Usmani

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI: The Gujarat Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) arrested a cleric, Maulana Qamar Gani Usmani from New Delhi on Sunday in connection with the Kishan Bharwad murder case, confirmed Imtiaz Sheikh, SP, ATS Gujarat.

    The Gujarat ATS has arrested a total of six people in this case. 30-year-old Kishan Bharwad was murdered in Ahmedabad’s Dhandhuka on Tuesday was allegedly shot dead over a social media post.

    According to the ATS, the cleric ran an organisation named the Tahreek Farogh-e-Islami and allegedly circulated videos of speeches to instigate youth belonging to the minority community to target those who insult Islam.

    The ATS is further investigating the case.