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Mastermind held with city informer?s help

DESPITE THE investigating agencies claim to have cracked the twin terror blasts in Varanasi on March 7 with the arrest of the mastermind Wali Ullah, the former Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist was actually picked by the probing agencies on the intervening night of March 26 and 27. Sources said that the Varanasi police got the tip off from a local informer around March 18 disclosing the ?role? of Wali Ullah, a Muslim cleric of Phulpur area of district Allahabad in March 7 terror attacks.

Published on: Apr 6, 2006, 24:19:00 IST
None | By , Varanasi
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DESPITE THE investigating agencies claim to have cracked the twin terror blasts in Varanasi on March 7 with the arrest of the mastermind Wali Ullah, the former Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist was actually picked by the probing agencies on the intervening night of March 26 and 27.

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HT Image

Sources said that the Varanasi police got the tip off from a local informer around March 18 disclosing the ’role’ of Wali Ullah, a Muslim cleric of Phulpur area of district Allahabad in March 7 terror attacks.

"We were on a hot chase for Wali Ullah since March 18 and finally we succeeded in his arrest. He gave details about the sensational terror attacks in Sankat Mochan Temple and Cantonment area,” TN Tripathi, circle officer Belupur, Varanasi, under which the Sankat Mochan Temple falls told the Hindustan Times on phone from Lucknow.

However, the main three terrorists who executed the blasts are still at large.

It may be mentioned Bashiruddin, Mustafez and Zakaria, all residents of Bangladesh according to investigating agencies planted bombs in Varanasi on the directions of Waliullah.

“The only confirmation I can give is that the family members of Wali Ullah confirmed that he was picked by the Special Task Force (STF),” SSP Allahabad Vijay Singh Meena had told Hindustan Times on phone on Thursday last.

There were reports that he was being interrogated on the basis of the Varanasi-based informer's tip off about Wali Ullah’s role in blasts and also amid charges that he and his family provided refuge to the terrorists in their house in 2001 following which he and his two brothers were booked under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code on sedition charges.

Meena also had said that Wali Ullah's family members requested his intervention to find out details of his location and also whether he was under the STF custody.

Meanwhile, Wali Ullah’s revelation that the three Bangladeshi terrorists who planted bombs on March 7 in Varanasi were also involved in planting bombs in Shramjeevi Express on July 28, 2005 and another blast at Dashaswmedh Ghat on February 23, 2005 has awakened the local police from its slumber which described Dashaswmedh blast as a mere gas cylinder blast. In both the blasts 20 people were killed and in March 7 explosion 16 people were killed.

  • Prabhu Razdan
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Prabhu Razdan

    Prabhu Razdan has been a journalist for over two decades. He has covered insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, and has reported from Jaipur, Jodhpur and Varanasi. He now writes on politics, crime, social issues and developmental issues in Faridabad.Read More

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