13 years on: 2 arrested from MP in ISI conspiracy case

Ahmedabad: Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) arrested two men from Burhanpur in MP on Sunday night. They were allegedly absconders in the 2003 ISI conspiracy case. The suspects - Abdul Razak Shaikh, and Mohammed Shakil Shaikh, both 36 - were allegedly part of a terror network which was planning to attack Hindu leaders in the aftermath of the 2002 post-Godhra riots.Both men were produced before a local court on Monday and were remanded in police custody till August 24.
"Gujarat ATS got information that the two accused were living in Burhanpur in Madhya Pradesh under changed identities," the ATS claimed in a statement. Many accused in the ISI conspiracy case have been acquitted for lack of evidence. "More than ten accused are still absconding," an ATS official said.
SP, Operations, (ATS) Himanshu Shukla said Abdul Razak and Mohammed Shakil were on the run for 13 years and the court had issued warrants under section 70 of CrPC. "We arrested both of them from near Fayazhussain petrol pump on the Burhanpur highway," Shukla said. ATS sources said Abdul Razak owns an auto garage in Burhanpur while Mohammed Shakil runs a welding unit in the same town.
"The two together delivered 10 firearms and ammunition to some conspirators. The accused also had a role in the supply of arms to Bhusaval, Khandwa and Surat," an ATS official claimed. Ahmedabad crime branch registered a case against them and others on April 4, 2003 under various sections of the IPC, Arms Act, and the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
Shukla said that in 2002 Mohammed Shakil and Abdul Razak were nabbed at Bhusaval railway station while delivering an arms consignment. "These suspects were paid for the arms consignment by the conspirators, including Mufti Sufiyan Patangiya, an absconder in the Haren Pandya murder case. Somehow the consignment could not be delivered," an ATS official said.
According to ATS officials, about one month later, Razak and Shakil returned to Ahmedabad to convince a fellow conspirator that had been caught at Bhusaval station. They even produced a news article about their arrest published in an MP daily.