Hunt on for key IM man who gave Chennai cops the slip

CHENNAI: Central and state intelligence agencies are hunting for Asif, the alleged missing link in a terror plot that an Indian Mujahideen affiliated group is suspected to have been hatching in Chennai before it was busted. On November 25, Asif managed to flee from the house in Selaiyur near Tambaram before police nabbed Mohammed Irshad Khan (52), a native of Darbhanga in Bihar and resident of Delhi, and his nephew Abdul Rahman (19), a computer science student of a private university in Chennai.The two were taken to Delhi after their arrest.
Asif, allegedly a key accused in the Delhi high court blast on September 7, 2011, is said to be moving about under different names. “We suspect he is roaming around in the southern states, including Tamil Nadu. One team is searching for him while another is compiling intelligence inputs from across the country,” an IB official said.
Sources said Asif didn’t have a cell phone but that his expired cell phone numbers were being tracked. “He holds a bank debit card and police are monitoring his accounts with the bank’s help,” they said.
“We launched a countrywide hunt after confirming that he had a vital role in three bomb blast cases in the country last year — the explosion at the German Bakery in Pune on February 13, at the Chinnaswami Stadium in Bangalore on April 17 and the shootout and blast at the Jama Masjid in Delhi on September 19, 2010,” Delhi deputy commissioner of police (crime) Ashok Chand told TOI.
A senior officer in the DGP’s office in Chennai said the picture and other details of Asif, received from Delhi, had been sent to police stations and other investigation units across the state. “We have alerted the Communal Investigation Wing (CIW) of the state intelligence,” he said.
Asif, the Delhi police said, is one of the leaders of an IM terrorist module and has been moving about under different aliases — Ahmad Siddi Bappa, Shahrukh, Yashin Ahmad, Imran and Asif. A native of Bhatkal district in Karnataka, he was residing in New Delhi, they said.
“Mohammed Irshad Khan (52) met Asif in the first quarter of 2009 and the two became friends before joining an IM terrorist module. Both of them came here to meet Abdul Rahman (19), who was residing at Selaiyur four months ago,” a senior police officer said. Aspecial Tamil Nadu police team is set to leave for the national capital to “interrogate the two arrested accused for more details about their activities in Chennai,” a police officer said.