Sleuths probe HuJI-B link to blasts

Fifty Indians from West Bengal, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Karnataka and Bihar have trained at terror camps in the Balochistan province of Pakistan, as per a document obtained by central intelligence agencies.

Fifty Indians from West Bengal, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Karnataka and Bihar have trained at terror camps in the Balochistan province of Pakistan, as per a document obtained by central intelligence agencies.

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The dossier, obtained through joint efforts with international agencies, reveals that majority of these are from Assam and West Bengal, which, in addition to Bihar are the new hubs for recruitment of terrorists.

Sources say the men have fanned out across cities in India, where they are masquerading as religious clerics, and recruiting fresh faces into terrorism.

But the one name in the list that has caught the attention of teams investigating the Mumbai serial blasts is of Jalaluddin Mullah alias Babu Bhai, a South-24 Parganas resident.

Jalaluddin, currently in a Lucknow prison, has emerged as the key link between the Bangladeshi group Harkat-ul-Jehadi-Islami (HuJI-B) and members of Indian Mujahideen (IM).

“He is a tough cookie, but has told us about his association with Amir Raza Khan, and HuJI-B’s top commanders Munir-ul-Islam alias Assadullah, and Mehraj alias Badal,” said a senior police officer from the UP ATS.

Hindustan Times accessed Jalaluddin’s interrogation report and has learnt that he had facilitated the training for IM’s co-founder Mohammed Sadiq Israr Sheikh. He was also in constant touch with Bangladesh-based terrorist Khurram Khayyam, who goes with aliases like Abdulla, Damesh, Qamar and Nata. Khayyam was a key recruiter for HuJI-B from Bihar, who shifted to West Bengal and later made Bangladesh his base.

Khayyam was closely coordinating with militant groups including the Lashkar-e-Taiba, HuJI-B and Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen (Bangladesh), said sources in the intelligence bureau.

Nata, as he is known among investigators, ran out of luck when the detective branch of the Dhaka police arrested him in November 2010, along with two Pakistani LeT men and an Indian recruit, Imadullah alias Mansoor Ali alias Mehboob.

Imadullah was touted as the chief of LeT’s Bangladesh chapter. Jalaluddin had motivated Imaduallah, a resident of Bangaon city in North 24 Parganas, into terrorism and helped him undergo training in Bangladesh through a person called Noor-ul-Islam alias Mama, added the UP ATS officer.

Apart from Imadullah, Jalaluddin was instrumental in recruiting Akbar from Bangaon, Mukhtiyar from Midnapore, Aziz-ul-Haq’s from Darjeeling, Hafiz alias Naushad from Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh, Mahabook Mandal, Yakub and Nasir from Coolutala.