5 suspects in Pune bakery blast still elude arm of law

Even as Mirza Himayat Inayat Baig, 31, was convicted of the 2010 German bakery blast, mastermind Yasin Bhatkal, who planted the bomb, continues to elude security agencies, reports Yogesh Joshi.

Even as Mirza Himayat Inayat Baig, 31, was convicted of the 2010 German bakery blast, mastermind Yasin Bhatkal, who planted the bomb, continues to elude security agencies.

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The five other suspects named in the chargesheet, including Bhatkal brothers Riyaz and Iqbal, are still at large. Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative David Headley, who has confessed to conducting a recce of the area, is in a US jail for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai blasts. Questions are being raised on why the Maharashtra Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS) did not chargesheet Headley despite his testimony before a Chicago court.

Also, the probe agency is in the dock for not having sought the custody of Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal in the bakery blast case so far, despite his name figuring as the one who taught Baig how to make bombs.

While Yasin is wanted in many terror cases across India, it is the first case which has reached its logical conclusion with additional sessions judge NP Dhote holding Baig guilty on Monday.

According to court, Baig was a “co-conspirator” in the case. The 2,500-page chargesheet submitted by the ATS said, “It was Yasin who “planted the bomb in German bakery in the evening”, when the eatery was crowded with youngsters. The bomb, which was kept in a haversack, exploded at around 7 pm, killing 17 people, including four foreigners.

The conspiracy was hatched two years before, in 2008, by Indian Mujahiddin (IM) and LeT to “create instability” and “stoke communal sentiments among disgruntled Muslim youths.”