MHA seeks ATS report on 13/7 suspect’s Qaida link

NEW DELHI: The home ministry on Thursday sought a report from the Maharashtra Police on the ‘claim’ that one of those arrested for the 13/7 Mumbai blasts case Haroon Rasheed Naik had met al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2001, and worked as a link between Indian Mujahideen and the global terror outfit.
“We have taken serious note of the claim. Since we don’t have any such information with us, we have sought a report from Maharashtra as we want to know details of the case,” a home ministry official said.
Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) sources had claimed on Tuesday that Naik, an accused in the Mumbai triple blasts, met Osama in Pakistan a month before the 9/11 attacks and was sent to Kandahar in Afghanistan, for a 40-day training.
The `claim’ points to a possible link of a terrorist from India with the slain al-Qaida leader.
Besides being present at an “inspirational” lecture by Osama, Naik reportedly also met Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operations chief Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.
Naik, who is in ATS custody since February 1 in connection with the blast case, was nabbed from the Mumbai international airport on August 22, 2011, on the charge of possessing fake currency notes.