DELHI: The Indian Mujahideen was formed as a
result of the mobilisation among Muslim youth in the
wake of the 2002 Gujarat riots, the National
Investigation Agency (NIA) has put on record for the
first time in its chargesheet filed against the banned
terrorist organisation's cadres and said that the outfit
nurses hatred against the Hindus.
In the chargesheet filed on July 17, accusing five IM
operatives of hatching a conspiracy for carrying out
various terrorist acts across the country, the NIA has
said, "IM was formed in 2003 after ultra radicalised
Muslim youth segregated from the Student Islamic
Movement of India due to communal mobilisation
caused by factors like the riots in Gujarat in 2002 after
the Godhra train burning incident and the Babri
Masjid demolition. They do not believe in India's
Constitution and IM's members nurse communal
hatred against the Hindu community."
The IM is receiving regular funding from abroad and
some of its functionaries are undertaking large-scale
recruitment for carrying out terrorist strikes in various
parts of the country, the NIA has said.
NIA admitted IM's absconding chief Yasin Bhatkal was
arrested while he was staying in Kolkata a few years
ago, but he claimed his name was Mohd Arshad and
managed to get released. Bhatkal and other senior IM
operatives set up terror modules in Darbhanga in
Bihar, Nanded in Maharashtra, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi
and Hyderabad, as per the chargesheet. "Yasin Bhatkal
developed new hideouts in Delhi in 2008-09 and a new
hideout and training sites in Darbhanga in Bihar
during 2008-11. The IM's identity was first conclusively
disclosed after the Batla House encounter in
September 2008 by Special Cell of Delhi Police," the
NIA has said.
NIA has identified Ariz Khan of Azamgarh in UP as the
main bomb maker and the most-wanted man of the IM
in its chargesheet, which cites 119 prosecution witnesses against the home-grown outfit's cadres. source m.economictimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/gujarat-riots-caused-indian-mujahideen-national-investigation-agency/articleshow/21178755.cms
