A fourth man has been arrested in the JM Road serial blasts case, announced the Delhi police yesterday.
Ahmednagar resident Irfan Mustafa Landage (30) was arrested from Jaipur on October 10, days after the arrest in Delhi of three suspected Indian Mujahideen operatives hailing from the state.
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The Delhi police said fugitive terrorist Riyaz Bhatkal had instructed Landage to arrange a flat in the city to carry out bombings here as well as in other parts of the country.
Crime scene: One of the low-intensity bombs went off outside McDonalds outlet on JM Road. File pic
Landage, who hails from Mukundnagar in Ahmednagar, was arrested by the special cell of the Delhi police after the three previously arrested men spilled the beans on him during interrogation.
Asad Khan of Aurangabad, Imran Khan of Nanded and Sayed Feroz of the city were the first three arrests in the case.
“In July 2012, Riyaz had instructed Irfan to go to Pune and arrange for accommodation in order to hatch the conspiracy of the serial blasts in the city and also asked him to meet Feroz in the city,” the special cell of the Delhi police said a press release.
The release stated that Landage came to the city, met Feroz and along with him started searching for accommodation, finally settling for a flat in Kasarwadi.
“The duo did not submit any identification documents to the flat owner and later Feroz furnished the flat,” the release said.
The police said that acting on Bhatkal’s instruction, Landage received Asad and Imran in the city. The police said the duo gave him a list of electronic items to make the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and he bought these items.
The police said Bhatkal used to send Landage money through hawala and using it Landage bought two pistols and gave it to Imran, whom he had met earlier when he had come to Ahmednagar. The police said both had come in contact later as well since both used to share same Jehadi ideology.
The police said Landage’s sister was married to Asad Khan and because of that he used to frequently travel to Aurangabad to meet them and in one of the meeting, Landage introduced Imran to Asad.
The release said Feroz used to go to Ahmednagar to purchase cloth and meet his son studying in a madrassa there. It said a common acquaintance named Sameer came in contact with Landage and diverted him towards jehadi ideology.
The press release stated that Asad Khan and Imran Khan had gone to Saudi Arabia where they had met Fayyaz Qagzi, who provided them email addresses to keep in touch in the future. u00a0The police said Landage too went to Saudi Arabia and met Qagzi, who showed a keen interest in him.u00a0
Family says Irfan innocent
Refuting the police claim that Irfan Landage was involved in terror activities, his father Mustafa said the police had picked him up from Thane on October 5. Mustafa said that the police had threatened the family against speaking about Irfan’s illegal detention. Irfan used to work as an Autocad engineer with a two-wheeler company between 2008 and 2009. In 2009, he left the job and started a real estate business with his brother-in-law Asad. He floated a firm called Expert Real Estate in Aurangabad.u00a0
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