Interpol warrant against blast accused

Interpol has issued a Red Corner notice against Rahil Sheikh, identified as the principal organiser of the July 11 serial bombings last year in Mumbai.

Interpol has issued a Red Corner notice against Rahil Abdul Rahman Sheikh, identified as the principal organiser of the July 11 serial bombings last year in Mumbai that left 185 dead and hundreds injured.

HT Image

The Red Corner notice was issued by the Interpol at the instance of the Mumbai police, who had taken up the case with the world police through the CBI, official sources said on Sunday.

The warrant is specific about his role in spreading terrorism in Mumbai, the sources said.

Rahil, along with Zulfikar Fayyaz Qazi and Zabiuddin Ansari, are believed to be the key conspirators of the serial blast in the metropolis who had even set up escape plans weeks before the bombings. Police named Rahil and others as key figures in Lashkar cells operating out of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Delhi.

A resident of Mumbai's Grant Road area, Rahil handled communication between these cells and the Lashkar's Pakistan-based commander for operations targeting India. Another key figure is Azam Cheema, the man who would have authorised and overseen the serial bombings and also responsible for funnelling Lashkar recruits, raised mainly from the ranks of the Students Islamic Movement of India, to training camps in Pakistan.

Gujarat police identified 30-year-old Rahil, along with Qazi, as the key conspirators of the attempted bombing of an Ahmedabad-Mumbai train on February 19 last year.

In March last year, Rahil's name surfaced again after the Delhi Police shot dead top Lashkar operative Mohammad Iqbal, a Pakistani national.