Blast suspect brought to Delhi

NEW DELHI: Suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) terrorist Salman Ahmed, who was arrested in UP, has told his interrogators that he met IM founder Amir Reza Khan during his training in Pakistan in December last year.
Salman was produced before a court in Delhi on Sunday which remanded him in eight days of police custody. He was arrested on Saturday by the Anti-Terrorism Squad of UP Police from Siddarth Nagar, about 300 kilometres from Lucknow, on the Nepal border and was brought to the capital by a special cell team which had obtained a two-day transit remand.
In Karachi, Salman was trained to handle weapons and explosives.Salman was introduced to Khan by the brothers Iqbal and Riyaz Bhatkal, both wanted in connection with all major blasts in the country since 2005. "His interrogation has now established that IM, with backup from the ISI and Lashkar, is training home-grown jehadis under `Project Karachi'. Salman is learnt to have travelled to Pakistan from Nepal in December 2009 on a fake passport issued in the name of Mohd Fahad Ansari. He entered Pakistan on September 12, 2009 and returned to India on January 25 this year, said special cell sleuths.
The 21-year-old Salman was also asked to recruit more youths and spearhead attacks on Indian cities. "As part of the strategy, Salman was asked to restructure the north India wing of IM which was dismantled after the Batla House encounter in September 2008," said a police officer. He added that Salman's arrest will help them unearth the IM network, which is suspected to be involved in the recent Pune blast as well.
Police also claimed to have recovered a fake Nepali passport and an international SIM card from Salman. After his name cropped up in the Delhi blasts case, police claimed, he moved to Nepal, where he obtained a fake passport in the name of Mohd Fahad Ansari in June 2009. On that passport, Salman travelled to Pakistan and to other countries. He was 19 when he fled Delhi.
Sources said Salman had enrolled in a Bachelor of Computer Applications course at the Lucknow campus of a private University in 2008, but he completed only the first year of the course. His interrogation also revealed that he was an active IM member and that he was in regular touch with other members of the organization. Salman also admitted his involvement in several blasts in UP, Gujarat, Delhi and Rajasthan. A police team from Rajasthan and Gujarat is also in the capital to question Salman.
Police claimed Salman's arrest also reveals that IM is trying to regroup. Ariz alias Junaid, who fled from Batla House during the encounter along with Shahzad, is believed to be an important part of the module.