Yasin Bhatkal gave Chennai cops the slip two years ago

CHENNAI: Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal, arrested on Thursday from the Indo-Nepal border in north Bihar after being on the run for more than five years, gave police the slip in Chennai less than two years ago.
Dubbed ‘The Ghost Who Bombs’ by intelligence agencies after earning renown in terror networks for his ability to evade capture, Bhatkal, 30, was hiding out in the house of a relative, Irshad Khan, on Pilayar Koil Street in Selaiyur, Chennai, in November 2011.
The Intelligence Bureau tipped off the Delhi police that Bhatkal — who at the time was believed to have been based in Karachi, Pakistan, with IM leaders Riyaz Bhatkal and his brother Iqbal — had landed in Chennai. But the Chennai police bungled the operation to arrest him.
Sources in the Intelligence Bureau said the Delhi police on November 27 asked the Chennai police to help them apprehend Bhatkal. The Chennai police deployed uniformed policemen to set up a blockade around the house where Bhatkal was believed to be hiding.
Bhatkal, who had been in the city for three days, was returning to the Selaiyur house from the market when he saw a posse of uniformed policemen sealing off the area. By the time policemen stormed the house, Bhatkal was gone.
“There was an operation in Selaiyur in 2011 after central intelligence agencies sought help from the Chennai police to nab a terrorist,” former city police commissioner J K Tripathy said. “Irshad Khan told us that Bhatkal had fled when he saw the policemen.”
The Delhi police arrested Irshad Khan and his associate Abdul Rahman, claiming that they were IM operatives. The Delhi police team seized materials, including posters and hand-written matter suggesting that terror links, but could find no weapons or explosives in their possession.
Delhi police officers involved in the botched operation later blamed the Chennai police for letting Bhatkal slip away.
Yasin Bhatkal alias Ahmed Siddibappa alias Shahrukh was born in Bhatkal in Uttara Kannada , Karnataka, on January 15, 1983, and is an engineering graduate. Bhatkal was an activist of the proscribed Students Islamic Movement of India before he helped Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal set up Indian Mujahideen.
Bhatkal along with three aides Tahaseen Akhtar Wasim Aktar Shaikh, Asadulla Akhtar Javed Akhtar and Waqas alias Ahmed were allegedly behind explosions at Opera House, Zaveri Zazaar and Dadar West in Mumbai on July 13, 2011, which left 27 dead and 130 injured.
Yasin Bhatkal is among the top in the hierarchy of the Indian Mujahideen, which is believed to be led by Riyaz Bhatkal. Iqbal Bhatkal is reportedly the ideologue of the terror outfit.