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Ahmed plotted the Delhi blasts
When serial blasts ripped Delhi killing 21 people in September 2008, Salman Ahmed (21) alias Chotu, one of the founding members of the Indian Mujahideen (IM), was busy attending computer classes in Lucknow, investigators have revealed, reports Vijaita Singh.
When serial blasts ripped Delhi killing 21 people in September 2008, Salman Ahmed (21) alias Chotu, one of the founding members of the Indian Mujahideen (IM), was busy attending computer classes in Lucknow, investigators have revealed.
The Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Uttar Pradesh police arrested Ahmed near the Indo-Nepal border on Saturday, March 6.
The day of the Delhi blasts in 2008, Ahmed was reportedly in Lucknow at the campus of Sikkim Manipal University on Sapru Marg where he had enrolled for a BCA course.
“Ahmed is a key conspirator of the Delhi blasts. He was aware about the date and time of the blasts but was not in Delhi on that day. He was involved with Atif Ameen, who was killed in the Batla House encounter, right from assembling the bombs to picking out the crowded marketplaces for blasts," said a senior police officer, requesting anonymity, as he isn't authorised to speak to media.
Police said Ahmed was adept at handling assault weapons like AK-47 and also assembling bombs with commonly available materials in marketplaces - ball bearings and ammonium nitrate.
Ahmed had reportedly inducted four Delhi bombers into the outfit after showing them the clips of 2002 Gujarat riots and the Babri Masjid demolition, police said.
Police said they would raid his hideouts in Delhi and would crack down on the sleeper cells and other members of the IM working scrumptiously for the outfit.
Police said Ahmed was one of the main conspirators of the May 13, 2008, bombing in
Jaipur where 60 people were killed and more than 150 were injured.
Police said Ahmed led a team of eight bombers to Jaipur after assembling the bombs at his Shaheen Bagh residence. They took the bombs in a Volvo bus that they boarded from Bikaner House near India Gate.
Police said they were analysing the international calls made by Ahmed and were scrutinizing it know the details of his contacts.
Police said he went to Pakistan via Dubai where he received training in arms and ammunitions.
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