NIA takes Bhatkal to his ‘Darbhanga module’ hub

A national investigation agency (NIA) team on Saturday brought Indian Mujahideen (IM) leader Ahmed Zarar Siddibappa alias Yasin Bhatkal to Darbhanga to corroborate information given by him during his interrogation.

Specifically, the NIA wanted to verify details about the 'Darbhanga module' he is believed to have floated during his stay in the north Bihar district a few years ago.

NIA sources said Bhatkal was brought to Darbhanga by a special BSF aircraft, which landed at the Darbhanga air force station around 9.30 am on Saturday.

A four- member NIA team, led by IG Sanjeev Kumar Singh and SP Vikash Vaibhav, rushed to Syednagar-Abanda locality under Laheriasarai police station of Darbhanga where Bhatkal resided in 2009-10.

Bhatkal, arrested from near Raxaul on the Indo-Nepal border on August 29 along with his aide Asadullah Akhtar alias Haddi, was taken to a library and a private school in Karamganj area of Laheriasarai, which he frequented during his stay in Darbhanga.

He was also taken to Chakjohra village where Mohammad Danish Ansari, a key IM operative and close associate of outfit's operational head Bhatkal, was arrested. NIA had claimed earlier Ansari provided shelter to Bhatkal.

Later, the NIA team visited Jamalchak village under Mobbi police station from where another Bhatkal associate, Mohammad Kafeel Ahmad, was arrested earlier.

The NIA team also visited Shivdhara-Chakjamal village where Bhatkal, masquerading as 'Dr Imran', stayed in a rented house in 2010-11 and used to practice the Unani system of medicine.

Several persons of that locality were also shown photographs of Bhatkal to ascertain whether he was a well known face there. Some persons are learnt to have recognized Bhatkal by face.

He was also taken to Taramohanpur locality under sadar police station, police sources said.

The NIA team searched several places to gather evidence on the basis of information provided by Bhatkal during interrogation about his connection with places like Darbhanga, Samastipur, Purnia, Madhubani and Gaya.

“Bhatkal confessed he was the brain behind recruitment of youth in Bihar to carry out terror attacks across the country”, an official said.

Bhatkal was also planning to get new recruits, as the agencies already had photographs of all the known Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives and had made them public, the official added.

The NIA team left to Delhi with Bhatkal around 2.15 pm.