Hakim Abdul Karim, the suspected Indian Mujahidin member arrested from Lucknow on Friday, had been reportedly asked a month before the September 13 serial blasts in Delhi to assist prime suspect Atif Ameen in the operations.

A Special Cell officer said Hakim was a classmate of Atif, Mohammad Arif and Shahdab Baig in Azamgarh and it was Atif who reportedly brought him to the Indian Mujahidin (IM).

During interrogation, sources said, Hakim told the police that though he did not go to any of the spots for a recce but he knew Atif had chosen 10 places in Delhi for planting bombs. Hakim had arrived in Delhi on September 8, a day after the recce was over. Hakim met all IM members in Jamia Nagar and helped them assemble the bombs used in the strikes. They stayed in the Batla House flat where an encounter took place later that month, in which two suspected terrorists and a police officer were killed.

According to the sources, Hakim left for Azamgarh on September 12.

Hakim, in the custody of Special Cell at present, has reportedly given inputs about the absconding members of IM. “He took with him Rs 25,000 out of the Rs 1.5 lakh delivered through hawala for the Delhi operations. He had to give the money to his IM counterparts in Azamgarh,” said an officer who did not want to be named.

Special Cell officers are now planning to bring Mansoor Asghar Peerbhoy, another IM suspect arrested by the Mumbai police in October, to Delhi and confront him with Hakim. “Hakim knew every member of the IM module but he had more interaction with Atif, Peerbhoy and Tauqeer. Together, they may disclose a lot of things,” said the officer.

The Delhi Police is reportedly taking Hakim to all those places where he went with Atif during his stay in Delhi. He will also be confronted with the five arrested IM suspects — Mohammad Saif, Zia, Saqib Nisar, Mohammad Shakil and Zeeshan, who are in the Gujarat Police’s custody at present.

Karim was arrested by the UP Special Task Force on Friday and was brought to Delhi on Saturday evening. He is suspected to have brought ball bearings for the Delhi blasts from Azamgarh on the directions of Atif. Special Cell officers said they would charge Hakim as a co-conspirator in a supplementary chargesheet in the case or whenever the next chargesheet was filed.