Don’t know if Bhatkal is a big catch: Bihar DGP

Three days after the arrest of Indian Mujahideen mastermind Yasin Bhatkal and aide Asadullah Akhtar alias Haddi from the India-Nepal border at Raxaul, Bihar DGP Abhayanand on Saturday clarified that the Bihar police also interrogated the two men in Bettiah, Motihari and Patna.

“Bhatkal visited Raxaul and was caught. I don’t know if it’s a big catch or small. He was not wanted in any case in Bihar. The states where he committed crimes would know better,” he said.

The DGP said, “We followed all the provisions of the law in handing them over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which had a non-bailable warrant against Bhatkal.”

Abhayanand said the central agency had provided a list of 12 terror suspects to the Bihar police two months ago. They included the names of Bhatkal and Haddi. The DGP said, soon after the arrests, the two were taken to a forest guest house in Bettiah, where they were thoroughly interrogated by the Intelligence Bureau, NIA and Bihar police officers.