BANGALORE--The Mumbai ATS on Friday obtained custody of two persons —Dr Syed Ismail Afaque and Sadddam Hussein —from Bhatkal who are alleged to have supplied explosives for the July 13, 2011 blasts in Mumbai carried out by the Indian Mujahideen (IM) killing 26 people.
A special court in Bangalore handed over custody after the Mumbai ATS filed an application stating that the agency would like to question the duo.
The ATS stated that Afaque and Hussein would also need to be investigated with regard to their role in the August 1, 2012, Junglee Maharaj Road blasts in Pune.
Afaque, Saddam Hussein and Abdul Suboor were arrested by Bangalore police on January 8 after intelligence agencies identified Dr Afaque, a homeopath, as a key supplier of explosives for some IM blasts.
Investigations in the Mumbai blasts case have so far revealed that IM members Asadullah Akhtar, a Pakistan national, Zia ur Rehman, alias Waqas, Yasin Bhatkal and Tehseen Akhtar, alias Monu — all of whom arrested — carried out the bombings.
The explosives for the making of the bombs used in the blasts is suspected to have been collected in Mangalore by Akhtar.
The Mumbai ATS had approached the special court in Bangalore for custody of two alleged IM operatives as far back as January 22 this year but the legal process has been delayed on account of Bangalore police carrying out its own investigations.
Indian Expree
