Majid Patel, who was arrested last month in connection with the attack on Akshardham Temple, is believed to be holding vital clues about the whereabouts of the alleged mastermind of the terror attack— Abu Hamza.

Hamza, a Riyadh-based member of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), and 25 other accused in the case continue to evade the Ahmedabad police’s Detection of Crime Branch (DCB), even as over six years have gone by since the incident.

According to the police, Patel, one of the alleged conspirators of the September 24, 2002 attack on the Gandhinagar temple, had been staying near Riyadh in central Saudi Arabia since 1978. He is currently in the custody of the DCB.

Investigators said Patel is being interrogated about the whereabouts of Hamza and other absconders, which also include his brother and a co-conspirator, Iqbal Patel. The latter is believed to have taken shelter in South Africa, the police added.

“Most of the accused are reportedly hiding in and around Riyadh. We also want to establish the source and the exact route of over Rs 50,000 that Patel and his brother had sent for militants who carried out the attack,” said a DCB officer, who is interrogating Patel.

Pakistan-based LeT operatives Murtuza Hafiz Yasin (code name Doctor 2) and Ashrafali Mohammed Farooq (code name Doctor 3) were killed in the night-long gun battle in the temple premises that day. One Ayyub (code name Doctor 1), who is believed to have coordinated the attack from outside, is also in the city police’s list of absconders.

... contd.