Four Anjuman members held in AP for blasts in 3 states

Four Anjuman members held in AP for blasts in 3 states
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

HYDERABAD, JULY 17: The Andhra Pradesh government today claimed to have achieved a major breakthrough in the investigation into the series of blasts at places of worship in the state following the arrest of four persons belonging to the organisation, Deendar Anjuman, including a contractor from Vijayawada.The government said activists of Anjuman were behind all the explosions in the state, Karnataka and Goa.

Those arrested were identified as Syed Iqbal, secretary of the Vijayawada unit of Anjuman, Najeemuddin, K Shaik Khaja Moinuddin and Mohd Humayun Khan, all from the same town. Of the 10 persons involved in the blasts in the state, four have been arrested while Mohd Zakir died in the van blast incident at Bangalore. Five are absconding.

Based on what the police claims is the confession of Syed Iqbal, the state government said Anjuman's head in Pakistan, Zia Ul Hasan, had masterminded the blasts. Iqbal, a small-time contractor based in Vijayawada, was assembling improvised explosive devices and sending them to his associates for explosions at places of worship.

Disclosing this at a Press conference here, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said a special court would be set up to hold trials in these cases.

The state police had been groping in the dark as blasts at places of worship took place at regular intervals, beginning at Machilipatnam on May 21. The breakthrough came when there was an accidental blast in a van at Bangalore on the night of July 11 in which two activists of Anjuman were killed and another injured.

Piecing together the information provided by the survivor, Syed Ibrahim, the police identified the persons involved in all the blast incidents in the state as well as Karnataka and Goa.

According to the police, Syed Noor Ahmed and Mohd Nijamuddin of Vijayawada planted a bomb at Mother Vanini Church in Tadepalligudem; Sk Khaja and Mohd Humayun Khan at Jewett Memorial Church, Ongole; Maqbool at Ram temple, Vijayawada; Jeelani Maqbool at a Christian congregation in Machilipatnam; Zakir and Maqbool at churches at Vikarabad in Rangareddy district and Medak; and Khalique-uz-Zaman (Markaj mosque, Guntur) in the state.

Syed Ibrahim planted explosives in churches at Goa and Bangalore, Meeran Saheb at Wadi in Maharashtra and Zakir at Hubli in Karnataka.

Naidu said the sect was bent on creating chaos in the country with its subversive activities. He added it was up to the Centre to probe whether those involved in the blasts had any links with the ISI of Pakistan. But he indicated that Deendar Anjuman had links with some organisations like Wami in Saudi Arabia.

The Chief Minister, however, ruled out the possibility of imposing any ban on Anjuman in the state. ``They (Anjuman activists) are very few in number and only some of them have indulged in these activities,'' he said.

Anjuman's chief, Zia Ul Hassan, visited the state capital regularly while its members went to Pakistan to seek his blessings. During these visits, they were trained in militant activities.

During his visit here in November last year, Zia Ul Hasan and his son, Zahid Pasha, had held a meeting with important members of the sect during which the latter were told ``that the time for jehad had come. You must be prepared to sacrifice your lives for creating nifaque -- hatred among different communities.''

Following these meetings, the police have claimed, Zia Ul Hassan's followers held several meetings in Vijayawada, Nuzvid in Krishna district and the state capital besides several places in Karnataka and Maharashtra, the Chief Minister added.

According to him, a police team arrested Najeemuddin and Syed Iqbal of Vijayawada near Eluru in West Godavari district this morning. Najeemuddin, who was involved in the Tadepalligudem incident, was working in a tyre retreading firm and had undergone trainig in Pakistan a couple of years ago.

Based on the information provided by them, police raided the house of Syed Abdul Khadeer Jilani a radio mechanic at Nuzvid. Though Jilani was not present, the police arrested two of his followers -- K Shaik Khaja Moinuddin and Mohd Humayun Khan of Vijayawada. Explosive material and literature were also seized from the house. The two confessed their involvement in the Ongole incident.

Interrogation of the four revealed that they were involved in desecration of Ambedkar statues in several parts of Krishna districts in 1996 and 1997, the police have said.